- 1 Washington Capitals vs Minnesota Wild: the NHL’s leading goal scorer against a 6-2-0 home record
- 2 Washington Capitals: Tuch’s 10 goals and three straight wins
- 3 Minnesota Wild: 2.21 goals against a game and a goaltender at .916
- 4 Free NHL Prediction: Washington Capitals vs Minnesota Wild
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Washington Capitals vs Minnesota Wild: the NHL’s leading goal scorer against a 6-2-0 home record 
Kirill Kaprizov has scored 14 goals in Minnesota’s first 15 games. Nobody in the NHL has more; Leon Draisaitl is next with 12. Kaprizov has added 10 assists, sits at plus-10, and four of the goals have come on the power play.
He brings that run to Capital One Arena on Sunday 1 November, puck drop at 3:30pm ET. Washington have won their last three, including a 4-3 win in Nashville on Thursday, the second night of a back-to-back, and they’ve lost only twice at home this season.
The Wild are 9-3-3 with 21 points and lead the Central, while the Capitals are 8-4-0 with 16 points in the Metropolitan. Washington have played three fewer games, though, so the gap in points percentage is smaller than it looks.
Neither team plays on Friday or Saturday, so both arrive with two full days of rest. For Minnesota this ends a stretch of six road games in seven, interrupted only by Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders, their first defeat at home this season.
Last season’s two meetings went one way each, and neither was close. Washington won 5-1 at home on 17 October 2025, and Minnesota returned the score with interest, 5-0 on home ice on 16 December.
Washington Capitals: Tuch’s 10 goals and three straight wins 
Alex Tuch has 10 goals and two assists in 12 games and is plus-7. Dylan Strome has 12 points from three goals and nine assists, Jordan Kyrou has 11, and Jakob Chychrun leads the blue line with nine points.
The win streak started with a 4-3 overtime win over Buffalo on 24 October. Washington then beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Wednesday and won in Nashville a night later, with Hutson scoring twice and Jenner and Tuch adding the others. Alex Ovechkin has one goal and four points so far.
Before Thursday the Capitals were scoring 3.55 goals a game and allowing 3.09. The shot numbers are less flattering: 27.7 for and 28.1 against per game, so they’ve been outshot on average and won through finishing. The power play converts 19.4% and the penalty kill 80.6%.
Logan Thompson is back from his lower-body injury. He’s 5-3-0 with a 2.78 GAA and a .903 save percentage and started on Wednesday, while Charlie Lindgren, 3-1-0 at 2.98, played in Nashville. Sunday’s starter hasn’t been named.
Two defencemen are missing. Vincent Desharnais had appendix surgery on 22 October and is expected to miss four to six weeks, and Rasmus Sandin is on long-term injured reserve after ACL surgery.
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Minnesota Wild: 2.21 goals against a game and a goaltender at .916 
Jesper Wallstedt has started 13 of Minnesota’s 15 games. He’s 8-2-3 with a 2.14 GAA and a .916 save percentage, and with Filip Gustavsson out with a hip injury for at least a month from mid-October, there’s no reason to expect anyone else on Sunday.
The Wild allowed 2.21 goals a game before Thursday, almost a goal fewer than Washington’s 3.09, and outshot opponents 31.3 to 25.1 on average. Their power play runs at 27.1% and the penalty kill at 82.2%, both better than Washington’s.
Quinn Hughes has 20 points, 16 of them assists, and he and Kaprizov drive almost everything. Matt Boldy has 13 points and Joel Eriksson Ek 12. Boldy, Hughes and Eriksson Ek all scored against the Islanders, where Matthew Schaefer won it 33 seconds into overtime.
The road record is 5-3-2, built on a western swing that included a 5-1 win in Seattle, 4-2 in Vancouver and 3-1 in Utah on consecutive outings. Before that, Minnesota lost 4-3 in overtime in Edmonton and 2-1 in Calgary.
The injury list is long on the back end. Brock Faber is on injured reserve with a skull injury and no timetable, Marcus and Nick Foligno are both on IR, and Jared Spurgeon’s status after an injury on 27 October is unclear.
Probable lineup Washington Capitals: Not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Minnesota Wild: Not announced at time of publication (Wallstedt the likely starter in goal)
Free NHL Prediction: Washington Capitals vs Minnesota Wild
Our prediction: Minnesota Wild to win (moneyline)
We’re backing Minnesota. The Wild allow fewer goals, take more shots, convert more power plays and kill more penalties than Washington, and they have the goaltender with the better numbers. The Capitals’ three-game run has come with them being outshot on average, which tends not to last.
Washington’s 6-2-0 home record is the strongest argument against us, and Tuch’s 10 goals show they can finish. We’d still weigh Minnesota’s 2.21 goals against and Kaprizov’s 14 goals more heavily than a home split built over eight games.
Sunday’s lines weren’t posted when we filed. We’d expect Minnesota around even money as the road team, comfortably above our 1.45 floor. If the price shortens below that, Kaprizov to score at any time is the fallback.
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