Minnesota Wild vs. Montreal Canadiens Prediction, NHL Odds
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Edgar Chaput
On Saturday, Minnesota experienced the Maple Leafs’ potent attack first hand. Despite four goals – an honourable tally by most standards – they were still crushed 7-4. Meanwhile, Montreal played host to Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks and were in tough but earned a 3-2 victory.
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Wild vs. Canadiens NHL Betting Odds
The two clubs that follow one another alphabetically only meet a couple of times per season given they contend in different conferences. It’s the Minneapolis-based club that often gets the better of the Habs, having conquered the last five matches. The last time the Canadiens earned full points over the Wild was before the pandemic in October 2019.
What’s more, for whatever reason Montreal has a world of trouble scoring against Minnesota. Their best effort in the quintet of consecutive defeats was three goals and that happened only once. In the last two home dates they’ve totalled but a single goal.
It’s early days in the 2023-2024 campaign, so ATS data is sparse. Through two games the Wild are 1-1, as are the Canadiens.
Minnesota Wild
Pardon the pun, but it was wild seeing Minnesota get so thoroughly outclassed by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. The Wild were a pretty sound defensive group last season and opened this year with a shutout victory over the Florida Panthers.
But not of that applied in Toronto a few nights ago. After opening the scoring through a Ryan Hartman (first) deflection almost midway through the opening stanza, the beast that lied sleeping within the Leafs awoke. Auston Mattews displayed speed, cleverness, and ruthless efficiency all night long, earning himself a hat trick (fourth, fifth, sixth) as he had in the previous contest versus Montreal. The Toronto blitz was so lopsided that a 1-0 lead devolved into a 4-1 deficit not four minutes into the second period. Matt Boldy (first) and Marco Rossi (first) tried to make it a game, but the Leafs would not be denied, piling on more misery in the third period.
Given that the shots were 33-32 in favour of the Maple Leafs, this was a case of Toronto’s guys simply playing better than Minnesota’s. Make the final 7-4 for the hosts.
LW Matthew Boldy is day-to-day. LW Sam Hentges should return this week.
Montreal Canadiens
A win is a win is a win. That’s what the Montreal Canadiens probably told themselves in the dressing room after an unexpectedly stressful 3-2 victory over the visiting Blackhawks.
As good Montreal fans do at the Bell Centre, attendees provided polite cheers for Connor Bedard in the pre-game ceremony when Chicago took the ice, only to shower the rookie with a chorus of boos every time he touched the puck during the game. Much like they had a few nights prior in Toronto, the Canadiens came out looking quite good. The hosts were flying and looked pretty efficient on their power play opportunities despite the inability to cash in. Chicago pestered Montreal with some solid “over the bench” hits, but the hosts would eventually make them pay with a trio of goals in the second period. Cole Caufield (second) got the party started, followed by a snipe from Tanner Pearson (first) and a great Sean Monahan (first) shorthanded marker.
The third period flipped the script, with the Blackhawks doing everything in their capacity to send the game into overtime. Were it not for a post extremely late, it would have. Nevertheless, the Habs win 3-2.
C Kirby Dach (lower body) is day-to-day. D Christian Dvorak (knee) is on IR until November.
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