Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
The Canadiens complete a quick two-game homestand on Thursday night looking for a bit of payback against the surging Buffalo Sabres. Montreal is -140 on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals.
Sabres vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds
Montreal is getting healthier with the Olympic break on the horizon as forward Kirby Dach was activated off injured reserve Tuesday. He had missed 34 straight games after blocking a shot on Nov. 15 against the Boston Bruins.
This could have Eastern Conference Wild-Card implications. Montreal currently sits third in the Atlantic Division and would reach the post-season via that route, while Buffalo tries to end the NHL’s longest playoff drought of 14 straight seasons. The Sabres are currently a Wild-Card team and are -170 for the playoffs with No at +140.
Thursday marks the third of four regular-season meetings between the clubs and they split the first two, each winning by two goals at home. Buffalo was a 5-3 winner last Thursday behind a five-point effort (hat trick and two assists) from Tage Thompson. The game was tied 3-3 entering the third, and Thompson scored the eventual winner at 5:12. Colten Ellis stopped 20 shots in the win and Jacob Fowler finished with 22 saves in a losing effort. Neither will start this one.
Montreal is 7-3 in the past 10 meetings overall, and the over-under is 5-4-1.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo snapped a two-game skid with a 5-3 win in Nashville on Tuesday in the second of a back-to-back to improve to 11-11-2 away. Rookie Konsta Helenius scored his first NHL goal and had two assists, and fellow rookie Noah Ostlund scored twice but couldn’t become the first Buffalo rookie with a hat trick since January 2016.
Helenius (19 years, 254 days) became the youngest Finnish player to score his first NHL goal since Kaapo Kakko (18 years, 241 days) on Oct. 12, 2019. Helenius became only the seventh Finnish teenager in NHL history with a three-point game.
Blueliner Michael Kesserling missed a second straight game injured. Alex Lyon made 31 saves in his eighth straight win. That’s one shy of the franchise record set by Gerry Desjardins in 1976-77. Lyon had missed the previous nine with an injury but probably gets the call again here. Buffalo is 9-2 in its past 11 away.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal won its second game in a row Tuesday, 4-3 at home over an excellent Minnesota team after blowing leads of 2-1 and 3-2. Cole Caufield’s 25th goal of the season at 19:45 of the third was the winner. It was his 21st game-winning goal in the third period or in overtime since making his debut in 2020-21. Only five players in the NHL have more.
Caufield joined Kaiden Guhle on Oct. 11 as Montreal players with a go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation this season. It’s the first time in franchise history that the Habs have recorded a go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation multiple times in the same season.
Kirby Dach was activated off IR for the game and was scoreless with two shots in 16:46. He took the top-line spot of forward Alexandre Texier, who was out with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day.
Jakub Dobes was in net Tuesday, but it should be Sam Montembeault here. He is 4-4-1 with a 3.73 GAA and .852 SV at home this season. Montreal is 6-1 in its past seven at home.
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