NHL Hockey Betting: Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins
For some reason, the Montreal Canadiens were all but forgotten heading into the regular season. Considering that the 2015-2016 Habs opened the season winning 9 straight and 19 of their first 26 that’s surprising. Even more so since it was obvious what happened to Montreal last year–the team fell apart to some extent when it became apparent that goaltender Carey Price was done for the year. While it should be evident that this is still a very good team there wasn’t much enthusiasm for Montreal as a legit contender in the East. They were involved in a huge trade in the offseason which sent defenseman P.K. Subban to Nashville for defenseman Shea Weber and a surprising number of Montreal fans didn’t like the move.
In reality, it was a great trade for both teams. Nashville got a more ‘rush oriented’ defenseman which was a big hole in Peter Laviolette’s preferred offensive style as well as a charismatic, outgoing personality great for promoting hockey in a Southern market. Montreal got a big, tough prototypical blueliner with a 108 MPH Howitzer for a slap shot. More importantly, they got one of the real character guys in the NHL, an influx of much needed toughness on the ice and a veteran team leader in the locker room. Full disclosure–I’m a Nashville Predators honk in real life and can’t think of one bad thing to say about Shea Weber. The epitome of class. I hated to see him leave from a personal standpoint even though the trade made a ton of sense from a hockey standpoint. He’ll get a standing ovation when he comes back to the Bridgestone Arena for the first time and deservedly so.
Boston is off to a great start as well but could be without goaltender Tuuka Rask here. He missed practice today with ‘general soreness’ and he’s listed as ‘questionable’. For some reason, the Habs have owned the Bruins in recent years. Montreal is 7-2 overall during the last three seasons and a perfect 4-0 at the TD Garden. The series last year was reasonably competitive (3-2 Montreal) but both Bruins’ wins came after Price was sidelined.
BET MONTREAL CANADIENS +100 OVER BOSTON BRUINS
