Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks Prediction, NHL Odds
The Blackhawks opened as very short favourites on the NHL odds.
Canadiens vs. Blackhawks NHL Betting Odds
Two historic franchises going through some tough times in the midst of rebuilds. The Blackhawks got theirs kickstarted by winning the 2023 NHL Draft lottery and selecting generational prospect Connor Bedard. He was the easy choice to win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year but has moderately disappointed in his sophomore season.
That’s part of the reason why the Blackhawks not too long ago fired coach Luke Richardson and replaced him with Anders Sorensen, previously the coach of Chicago’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford. Sorensen was named interim coach but has a shot to keep the full-time gig (team is 4-8-0 under him) and already is the first Sweden-born coach in NHL history.
Not that long ago, it looked like Montreal’s Martin St. Louis was in some trouble in terms of keeping his head coaching job, but the team has won six of seven to quiet any of that talk.
Friday is the first of two meetings between the Original Six teams with the Habs hosting Chicago on April 14 when both are likely long eliminated from playoff contention. Montreal is 6-4 in the past 10 meetings and the total landed over in just one of those 10.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal ended 2024 on a three-game winning streak following an impressive 3-2 upset in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve – the Golden Knights led 2-0 deep into the second period. Cole Caufield started the comeback with his 19th goal of the season at 17:27 of the second, Emil Heineman’s ninth of the year at 7:58 of the third tied it, and Kirby Dach’s fifth goal of the season at 10:09 was the winner. The career-best five-game goals streak by Jake Evans came to an end. Caufield’s goal was No. 100 career in his 242nd NHL game. That’s the third-fewest amount of games by a Montreal player to reach 100 career goals behind Stephane Richer (226 games) and Mats Naslund (233). Caufield on Friday can become the first Canadiens player to record four consecutive 20-goal seasons since Max Pacioretty from 2013-14 to 2016-17. Sam Montembeault was in net Tuesday and improved to 14-14-3 with a 2.87 GAA and .902 SV. No reason it shouldn’t be him again here. The under is 4-1 in Montreal’s past five in Chicago.
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago hosted the Winter Classic on Tuesday at Wrigley Field, usually home to MLB’s Cubs, and lost a fifth straight game (following a three-game winning streak), 6-2 to St. Louis. Taylor Hall (eighth of season) and Tyler Bertuzzi (12th) had the Blackhawks goals, both on the power play. Connor Bedard had an assist and seems to be waking up a bit with a five-game points streak (3G, 4A). He is now at 99 career points, tied with former Hart Trophy winner Patrick Kane for the second-most career points by a Blackhawks teenager. Blueliner Connor Murphy (1G, 12A) missed practice Thursday with a groin injury and is iffy Friday. The Hawks have been outscored 27-12 during the skid. No. 1 netminder Petr Mrazek hasn’t won since Nov. 27 (0-6-0). Chicago is 1-7 in its past eight vs. Atlantic Division teams.
