Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers: Odds, Prediction
It’s a hugely busy NHL schedule Saturday — before the league goes dark for three days over the Christmas holiday – as every team but one is in action.
Canadiens vs Oilers Betting Analysis
The Canadiens look to split the season series for the second year in a row as they were beaten 6-2 at home by the Oilers on Dec. 9 – Montreal’s third straight loss at the time. Edmonton’s Jujhar Khaira was the No. 1 star with the first two-goal game of his career. He gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead at 11:37 of the first and a 3-0 lead at 1:11 of the second.
The Oilers, who scored two goals in every period, were up 4-0 before Montreal found the net. Connor McDavid had two assists as Edmonton was 2-for-4 on the power play and outshot the Canadiens 40-24. Carey Price was pulled 2:24 into the second after he gave up four goals on 13 shots.
Montreal had success in Edmonton last season with a 4-1 victory. All four Canadiens goals were in a six-minute span of the third period, which the Oilers entered with a 1-0 lead. Paul Byron had two goals and an assist. Max Pacioretty also scored twice. Price was the No. 1 star with 24 saves. Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers.
Edmonton has won six of the past eight meetings overall.
Montreal Canadiens
It’s the fourth game of a six-game road trip for the Canadiens and the second of a back-to-back after visiting Calgary on Friday. Price has played in every game since his return from injury but likely will not in the back end of the double – although he has previously in 2017. The Canadiens have had mixed success in the second of back-to-back this year. After losing in Washington in a blowout on Oct. 7, the Canadiens were beaten 2-0 at the Rangers the next night. Price was in net for both. On Oct. 17, Price was in net for a 5-2 loss in San Jose and Al Montoya was the next night in a 5-1 defeat in Los Angeles.
On Nov. 4, Montoya won in overtime at Winnipeg, and the next night in Chicago (Price was injured back then) Charlie Lindgren had 38 saves in his first career shutout. Nov. 21 in Dallas, Lindgren lost 3-1 and then Antti Niemi was beaten 3-2 in a shootout in Nashville 24 hours later. Finally, on Nov. 29 Price beat the visiting Senators 2-1 and won in Detroit the next night 6-3. The Habs’ next back-to-back is Jan. 19-20.
Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton could get to .500 here, which it hasn’t been since starting 1-1-0. The Oilers won a third straight game Thursday, 3-2 over the visiting St. Louis Blues. It was scoreless entering the third period. The teams alternated goals until Drake Caggiula won it at the 19:10 mark with his fifth goal of the season. Michael Cammalleri (fifth of year) tied it 1-1, and McDavid (13th) tied it 2-2. Cam Talbot won his sixth consecutive start, the longest run of his career, with 34 saves. Another piece of good news from the game was the season debut of blueliner Andrej Sekera. He tore his ACL in last season’s playoffs. Sekera was minus-1 with a blocked shot and two hits in 16:10 of ice time.
