Montreal Canadiens vs. St. Louis Blues Prediction, NHL Odds
The Blues who opened as heavy favourites on the NHL odds with a total of 6.0 goals.
Canadiens vs. Blues NHL Betting Odds
Saturday is the first of two regular-season meetings between the teams with St. Louis visiting Montreal on Feb. 1. They didn’t play last season and in 2019-20 the Canadiens won both, including 5-2 in St. Louis. The losing goaltender for the Blues that night? Current Habs No. 1 Jake Allen. Five different Montreal players scored.
What do the Canadiens and Blues have in common right now? Both are devastated by injuries or COVID. Last week, No. 1 St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington tested positive for COVID, so Ville Husso is the temporary No. 1 and he’s dealing with a lower-body injury and no sure thing to play in this game. Binnington, a Richmond Hill native, led the Blues to their lone Stanley Cup title in the 2018-19 season as a rookie.
The St. Louis coach is Alberta native Craig Berube, a former enforcer as a player with the Flyers, Capitals, Flames and briefly the Islanders and Maple Leafs.
The home team is 4-1 in the past five meetings.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal lost its fifth straight game Thursday, 2-0 at home to Chicago as Hawks goaltender and Montreal-area native Marc-Andre Fleury became the third goaltender in league history to reach 500 wins in stopping 30 shots. It was the Habs’ first time being shut out since Nov. 18 at home vs. Pittsburgh. Montreal had just one power-play opportunity, which was unsuccessful, and allowed Chicago to go 1-for-2 with the man advantage.
Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak were among those newly injured who didn’t play, but it’s not serious for either and one or both could return Saturday. Jake Allen allowed two goals on 25 shots and presumably will start Saturday, although he has played six straight games so perhaps it’s time for one off. The Canadiens are 2-14 in their past 16 road games.
St. Louis Blues
We mentioned above that the Blues’ top two goaltenders are either injured or in protocols so former Canadiens netminder Charlie Lindgren made his St. Louis starting debut in net Thursday and beat Detroit 6-2. It was his first start since March 7, 2020. Lindgren had also won Tuesday’s game vs. Florida in relief of an injured Ville Husso.
The Blues were down so many players for Thursday’s game due to COVID/injury that they had to recall Nathan Walker from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, under emergency conditions Wednesday. All Walker did vs. the Red Wings was score his first career hat trick to double his career goal total in his 26th game. Walker played very briefly a few years ago with Edmonton. St. Louis is 6-0 in its past six at home.
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