Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators Prediction, NHL Odds
Ottawa is fresh off a come-from-behind win in last night’s battle of Ontario, snapping a two-game skid as they are looking to turn around their early season woes. The Senators have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons this past month. Improving the product on the ice would surely turn criticism into praise.
Puck drop from Canadian Tire Centre is set for 7 PM EST. Check out our NHL odds for tonight’s Moneyline, Puckline and Over/Under.
Canucks vs. Senators NHL Betting Odds
This will be the season’s first meeting between these teams, who will meet again on January 2nd. Canucks swept last year’s high-scoring season series by a combined score of 11-6 in a two-game set. Both meetings played the OVER, making that the result in four of their past five matchups.
Tim Stutzle had three points for the Sens versus Vancouver last season, while in 11 career games, Elias Pettersson has scored seven goals and 15 points in this head-to-head. Keep eyes on each team’s superstar in tonight’s meeting.
Stretching their win streak to four games, while covering the spread in each win, has come from solid play at both ends of the rink. They have held opponents to a combined five goals in their past four games, holding their goals against on the season to 2, good for second-best in the league. Pair that with the NHL’s most potent offence, clicking at a 4.5 goal-per-game pace and you have a team that is 11-1 ATS.
Are the Canucks the best team in the NHL?
Despite being 2-3 in their past five, the Senators covered in four of those matchups, regularly being listed as the underdog. Ottawa has had no problem putting the puck in the net, averaging four a game. Defence has been the soft spot for this team, allowing 3.45 goals a game ranking them in the bottom 10 in the league. Goals at both ends of the rink have pushed them to 7-2-2 on the OVER/UNDER.
Vancouver Canucks
Down 1-0 and outshot 16-2 in the opening 10 minutes of the first period versus a desperate Edmonton Oilers team, the Canucks leaned on goaltender Thatcher Demko to bail them out.
Quinn Hughes’ goal (5) at the 11-minute mark helped turn things in their favour though as they went on to score two more before the end of the first and they never looked back.
Hughes ended the game with four points (1G 3A) putting him first amongst defencemen scoring (20 points), Brock Boeser scored twice (10) and JT Miller had a goal and an assist as Vancouver rolled over the Oilers 6-2.
Hughes, Demko and Elias Petterson have been the most dominant players in the league at their respective positions, giving the team a shot at the top seed in the Pacific Division. They trail the Golden Knights by just four points with two games in hand.
Back-stopping in each of the ‘Nucks past four wins and stopping 41 versus Edmonton, Thatcher Demko has earned himself a night off. Expect Casey DeSmith to start in Ottawa tonight.
Ottawa Senators
The Sens picked up just their second victory in the past three weeks in Wednesday night’s battle of Ontario, upsetting the Maple Leafs in a 6-3 win. After going back and forth on the score sheet with Toronto through the first two periods, Ottawa opened it up in the third period, scoring three straight goals to end the game. Claude Giroux scored twice and added an assist for a three-point night, Tim Stutzel had four (1G 3A) and Jonas Korpisalo stopped 27 of 30 for his third win of the season.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid and put their road record to 2-2 on the year. They are now one game below .500 and two points behind the Canadiens for seventh in a struggling Atlantic Division.
Captain Brady Tkachuk did not hold back in his post-game press conference in their previous home game, voicing his displeasure with the fan base after they were booed off the ice. Fans were not happy after the team lost four straight games on home ice.
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