Montreal Canadiens vs. Anaheim Ducks Prediction, NHL Odds
The Montreal Canadiens continue their California road trip on Friday night when they visit the Anaheim Ducks.
The Habs opened the three-game trek out west with a 7-5 defeat in San Jose on Tuesday, a game in which Montreal clawed back from a 5-2 only deficit only to surrender a fatal goal late. A 5-1 home loss on Tuesday snapped a five-game win streak for the Ducks, but they completely flipped it around on Wednesday by beating the New York Islanders 5-1.
Entering Friday, Montreal’s holding down the top Wild-Card spot in the Eastern Conference but has Boston and other clubs on their heels as the playoff race heats up. Anaheim’s jockeying for playoff position in the West, as eight points separate first in the Pacific Division and the first team outside the playoffs. The Ducks are in second with 71 points.
Puck drop at the Honda Center goes at 9 p.m. EST with NHL oddsmakers listing this bout as a pick’em, and the total set at 6.5.
Canadiens vs. Ducks NHL Betting Odds
Anaheim hasn’t been an easy place for the Habs to win at; Montreal is 1-8 in their last eight visits to play the Ducks and Montreal is just 5-4-2 on the road since the new year began. The Ducks are 21-9-1 on home ice this season and are 9-1 in their last 10 at home overall. The over is 19-12-1 in Ducks’ home games this season, and 19-10-1 in Canadiens’ road games.
Five of the last seven Montreal have games have finished over the total. Montreal’s scored at least three goals in nine straight outings and rank third in the NHL with 3.52 goals per game. Four of the last five Canadiens–Ducks contests have finished under the total though, but this is their first of two matchups this season with the other coming on March 15 in Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens are one of the NHL’s top offensive threats but sometimes their inability to keep pucks out of their own net is too tough to overcome. Tuesday in San Jose felt like the Habs were chasing the game all night long for this very reason, as the Sharks finished with seven goals on 28 shots (including an empty-netter). Montreal did show a ton of fight in the final period though, scoring three unanswered goals to tie the game at five. Alex Newhook scored twice in the loss and recorded one of Montreal’s two power-play goals on the night.
The search for a consistent starting goalie is still on too, as Jakub Dobes finished with a .778 save percentage in Tuesday’s loss while allowing six goals. Dobes has played a team-high 29 games but has an .889 save percentage to show for. Friday’s the first of a back-to-back for the Canadiens, so expect both Dobes and Sam Montembeault to get starts in net this weekend.
Anaheim Ducks
The offence naturally gets a lot attention when you follow up a 5-1 defeat with a 5-1 win like the Ducks just did, but a 42-save effort from Ville Husso played the biggest role in the turnaround performance. Husso was between the pipes because the Ducks gave a rare night off to Lukas Dostal who had played in seven straight games. Dostal had won five straight for Anaheim before losing on Tuesday, and should be the starter on Friday against Montreal.
Cutter Gauthier remains red hot with two goals on Wednesday. Gauthier has a team-high 31 goals and five goals in three games this month. Bennett Sennecke potted his 20th goal of the season and now has 51 points in 61 games. The new wave of Ducks are starting to thrive, which means Friday versus the up-and-coming Canadiens should provide some great entertainment from both sides.
NHL Prediction: Who Will Win Canadiens vs. Ducks?
