Ottawa Senators vs. Montreal Canadiens: NHL Odds, Prediction

Andrew Rogers
Last Updated: November 29, 2017

The struggling Ottawa Senators start a challenging seven-game road trip on Wednesday night with their first visit of the season to Montreal.

Ottawa Senators vs. Montreal Canadiens

When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET

Where: Bell Centre, Montreal

NHL odds: Canadiens -130, Senators +118 (5.5)

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

Ottawa visits Montreal one more time in the regular season, on Feb. 4. The Sens also were at Bell Centre to conclude their preseason schedule and were routed 9-2.

The teams did play a game that counted Oct. 30 in Ottawa. The home side was a -120 favourite but blown out 8-3. The Sens scored 21 seconds in as Tom Pyatt found the net unassisted but were outscored 4-2 overall in the first period. The Canadiens added two more in the second and two in the third. Charles Hudon was the game’s No. 1 star with his first two career goals and an assist. Artturi Lehkonen also scored twice for the Canadiens, and Shea Weber had three assists. Al Montoya stopped 25 shots.

It was a night to forget for Senators star defenceman and future Hall of Famer Erik Karlsson as he was minus-6. Craig Anderson made only nine saves on 15 shots through two periods before getting pulled. One bright spot was Ottawa going 2-for-5 on the power play.

Last year, Montreal was 2-1 at home vs. Ottawa.

Ottawa Senators

Maybe it’s a good thing the Senators (8-8-6) are headed out on this long trip because they are a disappointing 4-5-5 at home compared to 4-3-1 away. They lost a sixth straight game Saturday, 2-1 at home to the Islanders – Ottawa hasn’t scored more than two goals in any game during the skid. It’s the team’s worst stretch of the Guy Boucher era. Karlsson hasn’t scored a point in the losing streak. The last time he went that long without a point was his rookie season. Matt Duchene found the net on the power play against the Isles for his first point in eight games since coming over in trade from the Avalanche, but he’s minus-10 as a member of the Senators. Duchene had four goals and 10 points in 14 games with Colorado. In an oddity, Anderson was in net vs. New York 24 hours after also playing in Columbus. Anderson asked Boucher for the opportunity to play both ends of the back-to-back.

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal (10-12-3) has followed a five-game losing streak with back-to-back wins behind strong goaltending from Carey Price after missing the previous 10 games with a lower-body injury. He blanked Buffalo on Saturday and beat Columbus on Monday, 3-1. Price was the No. 1 star in both games, combining for 73 saves. It’s only the third time in Price’s career that he posted consecutive wins while making at least 36 saves and allowing no more than one goal in each game. Brendan Gallagher (10^th goal of season and 200^th career NHL point), Jonathan Drouin (fourth) and Andrew Shaw (fifth) scored against the Blue Jackets, who had their six-game winning streak snapped. The Habs were 1-for-3 on the power play and kept Columbus from scoring on five chances with the man advantage. Montreal has lost its past five on Wednesday, but that ends this week.