NHL Hockey Betting: Anaheim Ducks at Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens have cooled off since their torrid start to the season but they’re still on top of the Atlantic Division with 46 points. That’s tied with Columbus for third place in the Eastern Conference and are also right on the heels of Western Conference leading Chicago. They’ll face a tough test here against the Anaheim Ducks who have moved into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams are two points back of the first place San Jose Sharks though unless they improve their recent form of playing near .500 hockey they won’t catch the division leader who is 7-3-0 in their last ten games.

Montreal will start Carey Price tonight and he’s having another epic season. Price has a record of 17-4-2 with a 1.90 goals against average, a 0.936 save percentage and 2 shutouts. It could be another Vezina/Hart double dip for Price if he keeps up this form though he’s got competition from several other NHL goaltenders. The Habs do have a laundry list of injuries. Andrei Markov is listed as ‘questionable’ here as is right winger Sven Andrighetto. Of bigger concern are three centers out for the long term lead by Alex Galchenyuk and including Andrew Shaw and David Desharnais along with defensemen Greg Pateryn are all out for at least a month.

The Ducks will start former Toronto castoff Jonathan Bernier and he’s done a decent job of backing up John Gibson. Bernier has a 6-2-1 record with a 2.89 goals against average and a 0.901 save percentage. The Ducks have had their share of injuries this season as well and now might have Kevin Bieksa to add to that list–he’s listed as ‘questionable’ here along with four players including three defensemen out ‘indefinitely’.

The Ducks have given the Habs a hard time in recent years with a 4-1-0 record in their last five meetings including a 1-1 record at the Bell Centre. The teams split a pair of games last year with each winning at home and the Ducks took the only game of the season so far with a 2-1 victory on 11/29/16 at the Honda Center. Habs have been monstrous at home with a 14-2-2 record.

BET MONTREAL CANADIENS -170 OVER ANAHEIM DUCKS