Washington Capitals vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
Washington comes out of the break leading the NHL with 71 points, but just four ahead of surging Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals have won that division four years in a row and are -175 at Sports Interaction for a fifth. Washington is also a +375 favourite to win the Eastern Conference and +750 for the franchise’s second Stanley Cup in three seasons.
Montreal has just 51 points and is 10 points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo also has 51, and Toronto (57) and Philadelphia (60) are also ahead of the Habs, so it’s not looking promising for a post-season bid. Montreal is +3300 to win the Eastern Conference and +6000 for the Stanley Cup.
Capitals vs. Canadiens Betting Analysis
This is the second of three regular-season meetings between the Capitals and Canadiens and Washington’s only visit to Montreal. On Nov. 15 in D.C. the Caps were upset 5-2. Montreal scored four second-period goals and appeared to be energized from a big hit by Alex Ovechkin on Jonathan Drouin. Tomas Tatar had a goal and three assists, and Phillip Danault a goal and two assists. Carey Price made 25 saves. Ovechkin had a goal and Ilya Samsonov allowed four goals on 39 shots.
Washington is 17-5 in its past 22 in Montreal. The over is 4-1 in the past five meetings.
Washington Capitals
Obviously, its a big break that the Canadiens won’t have to deal with Ovechkin, who is suspended one game for skipping the All-Star Game despite being healthy. He’s second in the NHL with 34 goals and is working on back-to-back hat tricks. The Caps enter on a three-game winning streak, taking each by multiple goals.
It will be Braden Holtby in net Monday. He’s 18-9-4 with a 3.09 goals-against average and .897 save percentage this season but hasn’t won since Jan. 5 and was pulled from his most recent start. The Lloydminster native has been stellar in his career vs. Montreal with a 13-2-2 record, two shutouts, 1.67 GAA and .943 SV. Washington is 2-8 in its past 10 Monday games.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal has won four of five following an eight-game losing streak. It beat visiting Vegas 5-4 in a shootout in its final pre-break game on Jan. 18. Tatar scored in the fourth-round of the shootout after the Golden Knights had scored twice in the final two minutes with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on the bench to force overtime. The Canadiens were up 3-0 after one period and 4-2 midway through the third. Nick Cousins had two goals, his first multi-goal game since February 2018 while with Arizona. Winger Brendan Gallagher missed a fifth in a row with concussion-related symptoms.
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