Washington Capitals vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
Montreal is a -140 favourite on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals in the 2025 playoff rematch.
Capitals vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds
This is the first time this season that Montreal gets a look at NHL all-time goalscoring king Alex Ovechkin. He and the Capitals return to Bell Centre on Feb. 28, while the Canadiens make their lone visit to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13. Ovechkin has faced Montreal a total of 60 times in the regular season and has had a ton of success with 39 goals and 31 assists.
Last regular season, Montreal lost two of three to Washington and dropped the lone home game, 4-2. Aliaksei Protas (1G, 3A) and Tom Wilson (3G, 1A) led the Capitals with four points each in the series, while Ovechkin had a goal and two helpers. Both Charlie Lindgren (1-0-0, 2.19 GAA) and Logan Thompson (1-0-1, 3.04 GAA) got into two games each in net.
Cole Caufield (3G, 2A) led Montreal with five points, while Lane Hutson (4A) and Nick Suzuki (2G, 2A) each had four. Jakub Dobes, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau all saw action, but only Dobes fared well in allowing two goals in a win. The over is 9-3 in the past 12 regular-season meetings.
The clubs then of course met in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, and top-seeded Washington beat Wild-Card Montreal in five. It was the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Washington Capitals
Washington won a second straight game (both at home) on Wednesday, 7-4 over struggling Edmonton. Alex Ovechkin had his seventh goal of the season and No. 904 career. It was his 480th career goal at Capital One Arena (regular season & playoffs) in D.C., to tie Gordie Howe (at Detroit Olympia) for the highest combined total at a single venue in NHL history. Ovi also got at least one point in a regular-season game for the 1,007th time in his career to pass Joe Thornton for the eighth-most instances in NHL history. That record of 1,221 by Wayne Gretzky won’t be broken. Finally, Ovechkin skated in his 833rd career win and passed Ray Bourque for the 10th most in NHL history. The No. 1 star was Ryan Leonard with two goals as he became the first Capitals player with a multi-goal game at age 20 or younger since Andre Burakovsky on Jan. 27, 2016. Forward Nic Dowd (1G, 4A) was scratched pre-game and won’t play here. Because it was Logan Thompson in net on Wednesday, it will be Charlie Lindgren here. His overall numbers are not great but actually better on the road at 1-1-1 with a 2.30 GAA and .921 SV in three starts. The Caps are 1-5 in their past six away.
Montreal Canadiens
About the only positive thing we can say about the Canadiens right now is they are well-rested having been off since Monday when the lost 4-3 in a shootout in Columbus. It was Montreal’s fourth straight defeat and sixth in seven games. At least a point was gotten Monday considering the Habs were down 3-1 entering the third. Lane Hutson tied it at 18:41 as Montreal scored its fourth game-tying goal in the final five minutes of regulation this season, which took the solo league lead at the time. After Kirill Marchenko gave the Blue Jackets the lead in the third round of the shootout, Jet Greaves stopped an attempt by Ivan Demidov to preserve the win. Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine both officially landed on injured reserve earlier Monday. Kirby Dach is also out 4-6 weeks with a fractured foot now, so the forward group is a bit thin. Jakub Dobes became the first Canadiens rookie goaltender to record a point in each of his first six road games to start a season, but it will be Sam Montembeault on Thursday. He’s 3-3-1 with a 3.50 GAA at home this season. The over is 5-1 in Montreal’s past six at home.
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