Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators Prediction, NHL Odds
The Senators are -130 favourites on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals.
Canadiens vs. Senators NHL Betting Odds
This is not part of the Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader on Saturday as that features Maple Leafs at Jets in the early game and Oilers at Canucks in the late window.
Is it too late for Ottawa to make a Wild-Card push in the Eastern Conference? Probably considering the team sits third-to-last in the East with 49 points and is +220 to make the post-season for the second straight year. The franchise hasn’t done that since the 2012-13 campaign.
Perhaps the Sens can still make a run if top goaltender Linus Ullmark returns. He has been away from the team for personal reasons, which forced Ottawa to recently sign veteran James Reimer to a one-year deal to back up Leevi Merilainen. Ullmark was 14-8-5 this season with a 2.95 GAA, .881 SV and one shutout. Not the best of numbers but certainly better than Merilainen.
These teams have split two games this season in Montreal, with the Habs winning 4-3 in OT on Nov. 1 and the Senators prevailing 5-2 on Dec. 2. Tyler Kleven (3A) and Drake Batherson (2G, 1A) lead Ottawa with three points each in the series. Ullmark started both in net. Nick Suzuki (1G, 3A) and Cole Caufield (1G, 3A) lead Montreal with four points each in the series. Sam Montembeault started both in net.
Ottawa is 6-4 in the past 10 meetings and the over-under is 8-2.
Montreal Canadiens
We projected Montreal to lose 4-3 at red-hot Buffalo on Thursday, and the Habs were beaten 5-3. It would have been 4-3 had Tage Thompson not scored an empty-netter. The Canadiens blew leads of 1-0 and 3-2. Cole Caufield (22nd goal of season), Ivan Demidov (11th) and Nick Suzuki (15th) had the goals. Lane Hutson had two assists and became the second-fastest defenceman in NHL history to 100 career assists, trailing only Sergei Zubov’s 127 games. Hutson has played 132. He also became the second-fastest defenceman in NHL history to 25 multi-assist games behind only Mark Howe (119 games). Montreal was 2-for-3 on the power play, but Buffalo also scored twice with the man advantage. Jacob Fowler allowed four goals on 26 shots and was sent down to AHL Laval on Friday. Likely Sam Montembeault on Saturday. He was a tough-luck loser Tuesday at Washington and is 4-2-1 with a 2.81 GAA and .903 SV on the road. The Habs are 1-6 in their past seven in Ottawa.
Ottawa Senators
Ottawa won its second game in a row Wednesday, 8-4 at the New York Rangers in the second of a back-to-back. The Senators scored four in in the second period, their most ever in a period at storied Madison Square Garden. The eight goals were a season high — most on the road since Dec. 14, 2021 at Florida — and they came from eight different players. Brady Tkachuk was one, scoring his 200th career goal and adding three helpers to be named No. 1 star. Tkachuk in his 538th career game became the second-fastest player to reach the mark for Ottawa, following Alexei Yashin (471 games). Ridley Greig also had three assists. Drake Batherson opened the scoring with his 52nd career power-play goal to pass Wade Redden for sole possession of the seventh most in franchise history. The had seven players with a multi-point game for the first time since Oct. 14, 2024 against the LA Kings.
Note that Linus Ullmark did practice with the team Friday for the first time since taking his leave, but you’d think he would need a bit of conditioning to get back playing in a game. So we’d expect Leevi Merilainen in net Saturday, and he has been much better at home with a 7-3-0 mark and 2.95 GAA. The over has hit in five straight Habs-Sens games, and we think it does again for this one.
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