The biggest storyline of the NHL season has by far been the GR8 Chase with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin on the precipice of passing hockey legend Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record.
There is 28 games left in the Capitals season and Ovechkin is within 16 goals from breaking the record after scoring versus the Flyers on Thursday night. The Russian winger has 26 goals on the season now, and betting odds for the record to be broken this season have dropped drastically to +150 and which means this may be our last opportunity to take the bet at plus value.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
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In our last post about the GR8 Chase, we said to likely wait things out and see if the Capitals slow down but they haven’t yet. Washington is still dominating with a top two offence and defence plus they have the fourth-easiest remaining strength of schedule, according to Tankathon.
The case is starting to look more and more likely as they will play ten games against bottom ten defences in the Sharks, Blackhawks, Sabres, Flyers, Bruins and Kraken as well as playing the Penguins and Blue Jackets twice each.
Ovechkin will also play against several teams that he has great career numbers against like Jets, Hurricanes and Lightning, who he has his first, second and fourth-most career goals against respectively. Not to mention, 15 of their remaining 28 games will be at home, where the Capitals are 17-4-5 this season.
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It should come down to the wire with Ovechkin’s 0.68 goals per game average this season should have him beating the record by a goal or two with a season-long projection of roughly 45 goals, which gives us a bit of breathing room for him to miss a game or two without a goal with the only concern being a potential injury. However, Ovechkin has rarely missed time throughout his career however and will be more motivated than ever to break the record.
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