Ottawa Senators vs. Vancouver Canucks Prediction, NHL Odds
It’s not going to get any easier for Ottawa after an embarrassing 7-1 blowout loss to Vancouver on Monday, as the Sens and Canucks will meet again for a back-to-back set on Wednesday and Thursday.
Vancouver is a -170 favourite to win on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5 goals.
Senators vs. Canucks Betting Analysis
The road has not been kind to Ottawa for a while. Dating back to last season, the Sens have only won one of their last 11 road games, including losing both road games, this season. Ottawa didn’t cover in either of their road games, this season, but they hit the Over in both games. The Sens have hit the Over in nine of their last 13 games, including four of the six games they have played, this season.
Vancouver has done well when Ottawa comes to town. The Canucks have won 10 of their last 13 games against the Sens at Rogers Arena and have hit the Over in their last five games against Ottawa, overall. Vancouver ha hit the Over in seven of their eight games this season, including all four homes game, and they are 3-5 against the spread.
Ottawa Senators
It hasn’t been entirely surprising, but it’s still been tough to watch Ottawa this year if you’re a Sens fan. Ottawa has only managed a single win on the year and has now lost five straight games. In a weird twist, however, the Sens actually outshot Vancouver 36-35 on Monday and it wasn’t until halfway through the game that the wheels fell off. Austin Watson had the lone goal for Ottawa, and the Sens only trailed 2-1 at the midway point of the game, but five straight Vancouver goals sealed the deal. Matt Murray allowed all seven goals in the loss, dropping him to an .862 save percentage and 4.47 goals against average, through five games.
Coach D.J. Smith has said there would be changes in the lineup and it looks like the biggest one will be inserting Colin White as the second line centre on a line with Nick Paul and Evgenii Dadonov. White, who has been a healthy scratch, has one assist and only two games under his belt, this season. Ottawa desperately needs to spark their offence. Defenceman Nikita Zaitsev leads the team with five points (all assists) and only four players have more than one goal through six games. Chris Tierney leads the team with three goals, while Paul, Watson and Brady Tkachuk each have two goals.
Vancouver Canucks
Coming into this game without a win in regulation since their season opener on January 13, the floodgates opened for Vancouver in their 7-1 beat down of the North Division’s last place Senators. With only one goal in his first seven games of the season, Brandon Sutter exploded in the win, with his first career hat trick. Although the offensive outburst isn’t likely to continue all year for Sutter, the defensive-minded forward’s four goals on the year actually puts him just one back of Bo Horvat for the team lead. Some Canucks rookies have also been offensively productive, with defenceman Olli Juolevi picking up his first career NHL goal on Monday, and forward Nils Hoglander making a great play to set up Tanner Pearson’s second period goal. With Vancouver’s lack of depth and injury issues, Juolevi and Hoglander should get plenty of opportunities to continue to prove themselves.
After landing on the opposite side of a seven goal game in his last start, against the Canadiens (a 7-3 loss), Thatcher Demko had a nice bounce-back game, making 35 saves to earn his first win of the season. The Canucks are going to need Demko and Braden Holtby to both be on top of their game this season, as Vancouver has given up more goals than any other team in the NHL, allowing 34 through their first eight games. With back-to-back games against the Sens on Wednesday and Thursday, this could be a great chance for the Canucks to pick up some valuable points and jump a few spots in the standings.
OTT
VAN