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Edgar Chaput
Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres Prediction, NHL Odds
Montreal struggled a bit against the visiting Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre Saturday but eventually came away with a 3-2 win in overtime. The Sabres hosted the New York Islanders and emerged victorious 3-1. What’s more this is the only game on the NHL schedule today.
The NHL odds have given the host Sabres the benefit of the doubt, as they’re perched at -185 on the moneyline. Montreal is +150.
Canadiens vs. Sabres NHL Betting Odds
Last season, these head-to-heads always favoured the visiting team. Two contests were played in Buffalo, with the Habs taking both. Conversely, the only one contested in Montreal was an easy win for the Sabres. That flipped the script from the year before when three of the four matches were claimed by the hosts. Overall, Buffalo has a 4-3 edge during that span.
Martin St. Louis’ side evened up its tally against the spread with Saturday night’s win to 2-2. Monday marks the first time this season that the team must hit the ice barely 48 hours after a match. What’s more, they’ve had to travel, albeit not too far away, relatively speaking. They’ve only played one road game so far, nearly two weeks ago. In the interim, they’ve had three home games in ten days.
The Sabres are a decent 3-2 ATS through five games. The club. Has benefitted from a lot of home games so far. Monday night is their fourth in a row and fifth in six matches. Curiously they’ve already played New York region clubs three times and Montreal will be their second Canadian opponent.
Montreal Canadiens
When the campaign started, the word out of Montreal was that the club’s brass wanted to see growth from its youthful core. The past two years were pretty bad but there were glimmers of optimism. Saturday’s contest against the Capitals showed promising signs as well as reminding fans that the team isn’t out of the wood yet.
The Canadiens applied decent and regular pressure on Washington throughout the first and second periods, frequently producing some close calls that could have seen their 2-0 advantage balloon to much more. Nevertheless, Sean Monahan (second) opened the tally on the power play in the first period thanks to a slick pass by Nick Suzuki that Monahan cleverly tapped in. In the middle frame, it was fan favourite Brendan Gallagher (first) doubling the lead by essentially crashing on a juicy rebound in the crease through traffic. But the third period proved stressful for the hosts, revealing that they still have a few tricks to learn as Washington played very well and deservedly pushed the contest to overtime. Thankfully, Cole Caufield (third) played hero in the extra session, sniping a wicked shot that beat Darcy Kuemper’s blocker side. Habs win 3-2.
D Kaiden Guhle is day-to-day.
Buffalo Sabres
Much like with Montreal, the Buffalo Sabres decision-makers want to see what they have with the 2023-2024 edition of the club. So far, it’s been a topsy-turvy October, but Saturday against the Islanders featured more ups than downs.
Buffalo was all over New York for much of the night. Were it not for the visitors playing with one of the best goalies in the league, Semyon Varlamov, the final score could have been far more drastic than merely 3-1. The Sabres were quicker, more intense, and created more quality scoring opportunities. It was only a matter of time before the hosts broke the deadlock. Jeff Skinner (second) did the honours late in the second period on a one-timer from the far left side of the net, and Mattias Samuelsson (first) doubled the advantage with less than a minute left in the period. From there the hosts did not relent, and the pressure paid off once more in the final frame through Dylan Cozens’ second of the year. The Islanders scored a consolation goal late, but it mattered little.
LW Zach Benson and G Devon Levi are day-to-day.
