Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal Canadiens Game 4 Prediction, NHL Odds

The Habs are -135 favourites with a total of 6.5 goals.

Sabres vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds

Montreal’s second straight win in the series – the Habs had alternated wins and losses over their first nine of these playoffs, a league record – on Sunday shifted it from a -115 series favourite entering Game 3 to -240. Buffalo moved from -105 to +195 and might have a goalie issue brewing. At -1.5 games on the series spread, the Canadiens are -115 and Sabres -105 at +104. That it ends in six is the +145 leader and Montreal in six is now the +250 favourite, followed by in five at +260. I now lean Habs in six but also believe Tuesday’s winner takes the series.

All-time in a best-of-seven series, Buffalo is 0-14 when trailing 2-1. The team is 25-16 in all Game 4s and 11-6 on the road. Montreal is 40-11 all-time in a series when leading 2-1. The franchise is 61-65 in Game 4s and 19-28 at home.

After Montreal played four overtime games in Round 1 vs. Tampa Bay, none in this series yet. Nine of 12 series so far have required OT, including every first-round matchup, for a total of 15 overtime games. There have been only two playoff years in which each of the first 12 series needed extra time and those came in 2013 and 2001.

Buffalo Sabres

Projected Buffalo to lose Game 3 on Sunday by a score of 3-2 with the series shifting to Montreal, and the Sabres complied with their two goals in the 6-2 defeat. They had won three straight road games in these playoffs, tied for their longest away streak to begin a postseason and all three wins had been by multiple goals. Buffalo got off to a great start Sunday with star Tage Thompson scoring just 53 seconds in. But Montreal quickly scored the next four. Thompson, who snapped an eight-game goal drought, hinted his playoff-inexperienced club might have been a bit too emotional. Indeed, Buffalo took 13 penalties that led to six Montreal power-play chances, and the Canadiens scored twice. The Sabres were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

The big question for coach Lindy Ruff, a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for NHL Coach of the Year, is whether to change goalies. Alex Lyon, who has been starting since Game 3 of the last round in Boston, has now given up nine goals in his past two outings after just seven allowed in the previous five. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the co-starter in the regular season and got the first two games of these playoffs before being pulled.

Montreal Canadiens

Other than allowing that first goal, Sunday was a perfect night for the Canadiens. Cole Caufield got only his second goal of the playoffs and snapped a five-game drought in the 6-2 victory. He gave Montreal a 2-1 lead early in the second, Caufield’s whopping 30^th goal-ahead goal of the season. He’s only the fifth different player in league history to get 30 in one campaign combining regular season and playoffs. Juraj Slafkovsky had a hat trick in Game 1 of Round vs. Tampa Bay but hadn’t scored since. He also found the net. Now all four of his goals have come on the power play. Alex Newhook continued his shock play with a second straight two-goal game. No Montreal player had done that in the playoffs since Mark Recchi in Games 4-5 of the 1997 conference quarterfinals.

Rookie Jakub Dobes also kept rolling in net with 26 saves despite getting bowled over at one point by a Buffalo player. Dobes is among league leaders in most goalie categories. Montreal is 8-4 in its past 12 at home.