St. Louis Blues vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds

Edgar Chaput | Updated Feb 10, 2024

NHL: Dallas Stars at Montreal Canadiens

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The tradition continues. The Montreal Canadiens host another Super Bowl Sunday afternoon game, this time against the St. Louis Blues.

St. Louis
43-33-4-2
AT
February 11, 2024, 1:00 PM ET
Bell Centre
Montreal
30-36-8-8
Puckline -1.5 +190
Moneyline -125
Over / Under o +6
Matchup Odds
Puckline +1.5 -250
Moneyline +105
Over / Under u +6
Matchup Odds

At least Montreal will have the benefit of staying at home to mull over their 3-2 defeat on Saturday at the hands of the Dallas Stars. The St. Louis Blues barely have time to celebrate their 3-1 win in Buffalo over the Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Sunday games at home are oddly becoming a regular thing for the Habs, who will be playing their third this season.

 The NHL odds favour the visiting Blues, with the Missouri-based ensemble pegged at -120 on the moneyline.

Blues vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds

Sunday’s contest is an opportunity for Montreal to even the terms for the two-game regular season series. Back in November, the Blues roasted the Habs 6-3 in the Gateway City. That halted a three-game winning streak for Les Habitants over the Blues. The Canadiens have won the last four games played at home.

Don’t look now but suddenly the Blues are in a real battle to sneak into the playoffs. This is eerily reminiscent of their 2018-2019 campaign during which they were among the worst teams in the NHL at New Year’s…yet ended up winning the Stanley Cup. At 6-3-1 in their 10 most recent matches, they’re looking about as good as they have all season. Things are looking good against the spread as well. The Blues are a healthy 28-22 in that respect, not to mention have covered six of their last seven opportunities.

Montreal’s bewildering season at the Bell Centre continued on Saturday afternoon. A 10-13-3 record in front of their faithful supporters isn’t doing themselves any favours. That said, betters probably won’t care. What they see is a resplendent 31-19 ATS tally, which admittedly is among the best in the NHL. They had covered thrice in a row before losing to Dallas.

St. Louis Blues

If the Blues are to make the postseason, they need to handle weekends such as the current one. The Canadiens haven’t played well at home this season, nor have the Sabres, whom the Blues visited on Saturday.

It was intriguing to see what would unfold in a contest pitting two clubs that have a habit of conceding a decent amount of goals but don’t score that much either.  Like a good neighbour, Jake Neighbours was there in the crease for a first-period power play goal, his 16th of the campaign. It was hard work around the net that ultimately paid off, just like Buffalo’s equalizer in the middle frame through Kyle Okposo. That would be all the scoring the Sabres would manage on the afternoon. As for the Blues, they netted twice more, once through Jordan Kyrou (15th) and another to ice the game on a juicy rebound for Jake Neighbours again (17th). However, they rang the post no fewer than four times during the final 20 minutes. No wonder they don’t score a lot. St. Louis earns the spoils with a 3-1 victory.

Montreal Canadiens

Not all 3-2 final scores are built the same. Some suggest how truly close a match was. Others belie the fact that had the losing side’s goalie not played wonderfully, the scoreline would have looked a lot worse.

Saturday was a case of the latter at the Bell Centre. Dallas comfortably outshot Montreal 38-20, with many of the Canadiens’ chances coming early in the first period or late as they tried to level the terms. Funnily enough, they were largely outplayed in the middle frame despite those 20 minutes being when they scored their two goals. A Mike Matheson long pass bounced off the board to send Nick Suzuki on his way and snipe a beauty past Jake Oettinger. The Stars responded with a trio of goals, two from Tyler Seguin in close, that made it 3-1. Juraj Slafkosvky earned his 10th late in the second period with a wicked wrist shot of his own.

Samuel Montembeault saved the Habs from blushes, stopping 35 of the 38 shots fired in his direction, but not for the first time this season the offensive touch was lacking. Canadiens lose 3-2. To add injury to insult, Rafael Harvey-Pinard left the contest in the second period with a lower-body injury sustained by colliding into teammate Joel Armia.

NHL Prediction: Who Will Win Blues vs. Canadiens?

NHL Predictions
SportsInteraction
  • STL
  • -125 +105
  • MON
Matchup NHL Odds