Montreal Canadiens vs. Minnesota Wild: NHL Odds, Prediction

Sports Interaction Staff
Last Updated: November 6, 2017

The Montreal Canadiens might be on the verge of turning their disappointing season around as they have won three of their past four games heading into their only visit of the season to Minnesota on Thursday night.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Minnesota Wild

When: Thursday, 8 p.m. ET

Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.

Moneylines: Wild -145, Canadiens +125 (5.5)

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

This is the first of two meetings, with Montreal hosting Minnesota next Thursday. The Wild swept Montreal last year. It was 4-2 at Bell Centre as Eric Staal scored the go-ahead goal shorthanded early in the third period. Devan Dubnyk, part of the Canadiens organization briefly in 2014, made 32 saves for the Wild. Max Pacioretty and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Montreal, while Carey Price had 23 saves.

In the Twin Cities, the Wild rolled to a 7-1 victory with three goals in each of the second and third periods. Dubnyk stopped 20 shots and only missed a shutout when Tomas Plekanec scored on the power play with nine seconds remaining in the game. Price made just 17 saves.

The Wild are 6-3 all-time at home in this series and the over/under is 6-3 in those.

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens (4-7-1) have won back-to-back games for the first time this season, following a 5-4 home victory over the Rangers on Saturday with an 8-3 rout in Ottawa on Monday to begin a four-game road trip. It was the most goals Montreal has scored against the Senators since they rejoined the NHL in 1992-93. During a seven-game losing streak earlier in the season, the Habs totaled only 10 goals. Charles Hudon, in his 18^th career game, had his first two NHL goals and added an assist as the game’s No. 1 star. Lehkonen scored his first two goals of the season and Shea Weber had three assists. Weber is tied for the team lead with nine points (three goals, six assists).

Price probably was wondering where all that goal support had been for him as the former Vezina and Hart Trophy winner got the night off, with Al Montoya making 25 saves. Now if Montreal could just get Andrew Shaw going. He’s among the NHL shot leaders (29) without a goal scored.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild (4-4-2) are 2-2 on a six-game homestand after losing 2-1 to Winnipeg on Tuesday. Luke Kunin had the only goal for Minnesota, his second on the year. Backup netminder Alex Stalock got a rare start and made 17 saves – surely it will be Dubnyk (who hasn’t been great thus far) in there Thursday.

Minnesota welcomed back winger Nino Niederreiter on Tuesday after he had missed the past six with an ankle injury. He had an assist in 14:09 of ice time. The Swiss is a good player and had 25 goals and 32 assists in 2016-17. The Wild are middle-of-the pack in every major statistic (12^th in goals and GAA, 13^th on the power play and 15^th on the penalty kill). Chris Stewart leads the team with six goals.