Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators Prediction, NHL Odds
The Atlantic Division rivals are meeting for just the second time this season and the first time since October 12th. Ottawa is looking to hold onto its current position as the top wildcard in the Eastern Conference after losing three in a row before the break.
The NHL odds have the Senators as a -175 favourite as the host, with the total opening at an even 6 goals. The puck will drop from the Canadian Tire Centre at 7:00 PM ET.
Canadiens vs. Senators NHL Betting Odds
The Canadiens broke a streak of nine straight losses to the Senators when they beat them 4-1 early in the season. The young guns carried the weight for Montreal in that one as Cole Caufield potted a pair of goals, Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky each had two helpers and rookie Emil Heineman scored his first career goal.
After a hot start to the new year, the Habs crashed back down to earth after losing eight of their last nine before the break. They failed to cover in all of their past seven games, dropping their record ATS to 30-26 on the year. Their defensive play has fallen off over the skid, allowing three or more goals in nine of their past 10 games.
Riding a three-game losing streak where they have failed to cover in all three games, has dropped the Senators record ATS to 24-32. Ottawa’s defensive play has significantly improved this season as they boast a 2.77 goals against average, good for 10th in the league. That shutdown style helped their OVER/UNDER get to 20-30-6 on the campaign.
Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens welcome back three players from the Four Nations Faceoff, two of which saw game action, but just one who put up any points. Sam Montembeault won gold with Canada as the third goalie, while Joel Armia and Patrik Laine represented Finland at the tournament. Laine posted three assists in the three games that he played in. The Habs are hoping Laine got his swagger back in that tournament after going pointless in the team’s last eight games.
After a hot streak put them in the playoff race a few weeks ago they have since fallen to thirteenth in the Eastern Conference, needing to leapfrog five teams to grab a wildcard spot.
The break gave the Canadiens time to get a player back from injury, with rookie Emil Heineman expected to hop back into action Saturday after he missed 14 games after getting hit by a car. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle is still not ready to return after getting surgery on January 29th.
Ottawa Senators
While most of the Senators had a quiet break, their Captain Brady Tkachuk was making headlines at the NHL’s Four Nations Faceoff. The 25-year-old American turned heads with a fight against Canada and added three goals in the tournament, including one in the final versus the Canadians. Defenceman Jake Sanderson also represented the USA and he finished the tournament with a goal.
Time off is supposed to help players get back to full health, but it was not the case for the Sens who are down two players from their top six. Shane Pinto and Josh Norris both will not play this weekend. The pair of forwards both went down with upper-body injuries in early February and are not yet skating with their teammates.
The Sens are looking to get into the postseason for the first time since the 2016-17 season, where they were bounced in the Conference finals.
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