Washington Capitals vs. Chicago Blackhawks Betting Pick January 9th

OK first a quick apology for my pick Wednesday night on the Blues, ouch. I play these off the expected goalie starters and that was Joel Hofer, which checked out since he’s getting about 60% of the starts now and had sat in the Blues last game. 

They instead went with Jordan Binnington off his best game of the year, a shutout of an excellent Canadiens team on Saturday. The odds got better for the Blues so I wouldn’t have changed my actual pick since I have some optimism he’s rounding into “Olympic” form. Or at least I would have thought that….he’s not exactly there yet.

Anyways… it’s a slim three game card tonight, but there’s a play I like so let’s go for it!

NHL Season Stats
Record: 16–22
Units: –5.11

Capitals at Blackhawks

Blackhawks ML (+150 Fanatics)

Let’s be clear here, the Caps are the better team, much better. They’ve outscored opponents 143–124, while Chicago is on the short end at 123–134. Washington ranks 10th in the league with a 51.35% xGF% at all strengths while Chicago is dead last at 44.39%.

But the current form tells a wholly different story.

The Caps are mired in a 4–7–3 slump back to December 11th. They’ve been outscored 52–40, and gotten just 46.74% of the expected goals as well. Goalie Logan Thompson made the Canadian Olympic team on the back of a 91.44% save percentage and 14.66 GSAA that’s third best in the league for the full season. During the Caps slide, he’s been a roughly league average 89.2% save percentage, 0.92 GSAA netminder.

Meanwhile the Black Hawks remain undefeated — in 2026, that is.

They’ve gone 4–0, including the 7–3 Blues thrashing on Wednesday. Most importantly, thanks to their run here, they managed to tread water at 5–6–1 minus rising superstar Connor Bedard. And now he’s expected to be back for tonight’s game.

Maybe his absence turned into a blessing in disguise as it’s forced some other players to step up a bit. Recent top draft pick defenseman Artyom Levshunov has logged a team-high 249:36 in ice time since Bedard went down, despite missing a game himself. He’s delivered a goal, five assists, and 10 blocked shots.

Veteran Tyler Bertuzzi has picked the team up offensively with six goals and will be counted on for big minutes in any sort of playoff push.

Let’s go with the hot hand here and put some money down and roll with the Hawks.