Florida Panthers vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
The Cats are -185 favourites to win on the NHL odds.
Panthers vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds
It’s possible but unlikely that Florida-Montreal is a first-round Stanley Cup playoff preview, but that would entail the Panthers winning the Atlantic Division title and the Canadiens catching Ottawa for the East’s top Wild-Card seed. Florida is capable of doing its part in the Atlantic but is a +220 underdog to win it behind Toronto (-105).
The Canadiens hold the East’s second WC spot but are seven points behind No. 1 Ottawa, so that’s probably not happening. The second WC team would open the playoffs at Metropolitan Division champion Washington and the legendary Alex Ovechkin. The Caps haven’t clinched the Metro yet, but it’s imminent and they will finish atop the East in points.
Simply making the playoffs is far from assured for Montreal as the Rangers are tied for that second spot but currently lose the tiebreaker and have played one more game. Columbus, Detroit and the New York Islanders are all close as well. To make the postseason, the Habs are -180 and No at +150.
It would be stunning and historic for Montreal to sweep a four-game season series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, but that is on the table for this game.
Florida Panthers
Florida was a -300 home favourite on Sunday but had a two-game winning streak snapped in a 4-2 loss to Montreal – it was tied 2-2 after two periods. The Panthers got goals from Sam Reinhart (36th of season) and trade acquisition blueliner Seth Jones (ninth), but No. 1 goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky gave up the eventual game-winning goal early in the third. It was Reinhart’s 27th game-tying goal with the Panthers to tie Scott Mellanby for the sixth most in franchise history.
Fellow forward Aleksander Barkov had two assists while skating in his 800th career game to reach 778 career points. The only Finnish-born players with as many points through their 800th game are Jari Kurri (1,080), Teemu Selanne (919) and Tomas Sandstrom (780). Barkov remains one goal shy of his 10th career 20-goal season and would become the third Finnish player to record 10 different 20-goal seasons following Selanne (17) and Kurri (13).
The Panthers remain without two key players in forward Matthew Tkachuk and defenceman Aaron Ekblad. Tkachuk won’t return before the playoffs due to injury. Ekblad won’t, either, due to a 20-game suspension that will include the first two games of the playoffs. It likely will be Bobrovsky again Tuesday, and he’s 13-8-0 on the road with a 2.54 GAA. Florida is 4-2 in its past six Tuesday games.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal was such a massive underdog Sunday in South Florida yes because the Panthers are good but also due to the Habs entering on five-game losing streak and three in a row by multiple goals. But they got goals from Patrik Laine (19th of season), Juraj Slafkovsky (17th), Nick Suzuki (23rd) and Brendan Gallagher (18th) in the upset with Suzuki’s the winner early in the third and Gallagher’s the clincher on an empty net. The win put the Canadiens back into a playoff spot.
Lane Hutson had three assists for his 14th multi-assist game to tie Larry Murphy (1980-81) for the second most in a season by a rookie defenceman in NHL history. Hall of Famer Chris Chelios holds the mark with 16 in 1984-85 with Montreal.
Sam Montembeault was in net Sunday so that might mean rookie Jakub Dobes in the rematch, although he has been struggling of late and has a 4.10 home GAA in four outings. The Canadiens look to complete a season sweep against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions (minimum three games played) for only the second time – the first was against Edmonton in 1987-88. The over is 6-1 in Montreal’s past seven overall.
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