Florida Panthers vs Washington Capitals Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/17/26

The Florida Panthers are visiting the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. The Panthers remain without their 2 best players in Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. These 2 teams have met twice already this season, and both of those games were high-scoring affairs. They finished with final scores of 5-3 and 6-3. This seems to be the trend for Florida this season — playing in high-scoring games. Three of its last 4 contests have gone over the game total, including a brutal 9-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. The Panthers’ defensive play has been brutal, as they are allowing 3.33 goals against per game — which is ranked 27th in the NHL. They will be going up against a solid offensive club in the Capitals, who average 3.23 goals per game.

Given the recent history between these teams and Florida’s recent play, I think we are in for a high-scoring game. The Panthers are the fifth-most penalized team in the NHL, so look for the Capitals to get some opportunities on the man advantage. Give me the over in this one.

Panthers vs Capitals prediction: Over 6 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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