NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Here are tonight’s NHL predictions and best bets:
Montreal Canadiens (35-18-10) at Ottawa Senators (32-22-9)
Canadiens (+155) at Senators (-190) – Total 6.5 (-110)
7 p.m. ET
The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 win last night at home over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Montreal built up a 2-0 lead, and then everything slowed down for the Canadiens. Some of that can be attributed to Cole Caufield, who was dealing with an illness and played just over 10 minutes last night. The other bit of news for the Canadiens is that they recalled goalie Jacob Fowler from their top minor league team, and he will get the start tonight against the Senators. For Fowler, this is his first career start against the Senators.
Ottawa will be playing their first game at home following a West Coast road trip that concluded Monday in Vancouver with a 2-0 victory. The first game home for an East Coast team following a West Coast road trip can be a tough spot. The Sens have been on a nice run as they push for a playoff spot, winning eight of their last 11 games. Ottawa is five points back of Boston (six because of the tiebreaker) for the second wild card spot, but they have a better chance at catching the Detroit Red Wings, who sit in wild card one. The Sens are six points back of Detroit, with two games in hand, and Ottawa owns the tiebreaker. The Senators will start Linus Ullmark tonight.
Here is how I will attack this game. For those of you instant gratification players, I am on the first period Over 1.5 goals (-140). Each of the last 10 meetings (regular season) has had two goals or more in the first period.
On to the player props. Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky has five goals and nine points in 11 career games against the Sens. He has points in three of his last four games and nine of his last 12. He has also been shooting the puck and cashing his shots on goal prop (Over 2.5) in four of his last five games and three of his last four games on the second half of back-to-backs this season. On the Ottawa side, Drake Batherson (29 points in 31 games vs Montreal) and Tim Stutzle (24 points in 26 games vs Montreal) are both close to a point-a-game player against the Canadiens in their career. With defenseman Jake Sanderson still out, Thomas Chabot takes his big minutes, and I like him for an assist.
NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Montreal Canadiens/Ottawa Senators 1st period Over 1.5 (-140) – 2 units
Stutzle point/Batherson point/Chabot assist (+241) – .20 units
Juraj Slafkovsky Over 2.5 shots on goal (+134) – .50 units
Hutson assist/Slafkovsky point/Suzuki point (+173) – .20 units
