NHL Hockey Betting: Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators

The Montreal Canadiens have had a miserable season but to their credit they haven’t rolled over. They’ve certainly had reasons to do so–not the least of which being the (apparently) season ending injury to goaltender Carey Price–but they’ve continued to compete as best as possible. They’re at the point where they’d have plenty of excuses to just ‘phone it in’ and play out the string but they’re 4-5-1 in their last ten games and in theory at least still have a shot at making the playoffs. Then again, that’s not much of a consolation for a team that was all but handed the Presidents’ Trophy by the media after their torrid start to the season.

Ottawa was until recently Canada’s best hope for a Stanley Cup playoff qualifier. Ottawa has only been able to tread water when they needed to win games and are 4-4-2 in their last ten which puts them just two points in front of the Canadiens. The Sens are only 7 points out of the final wildcard spot (currently held by Detroit) but they’d need to get past Carolina, New Jersey and Philadelphia (who at 8-1-1 in their last ten games are playing their best hockey of the year). Hard to see the stars aligning to even give Ottawa a look at the playoffs.

Sadly, the Senators remain the best chance for a Canadian team to qualify for the playoffs. Vancouver and Calgary trail Colorado for the final Western Conference wildcard spot by 12 points. But with the Canucks going 3-7-0 in their last 10 and the Flames going 4-4-2 in their last ten they’re not running down the Avalanche. Heading into Saturday’s action the only Canadian team with a winning record in their last ten games is Edmonton–they’ve won six of ten showing some of the promise for the future expected of them this year with Connor McDavid and the recent strong play of Cam Talbot in net.

At this stage, it looks like Montreal is still playing with pride despite a laundry list of injuries (Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry, P.K. Subban) to go along with their biggest injury (Carey Price). Ottawa is banged up as well and have been playing downright embarrassing hockey in the defensive end. Senators now #27 in goals against per game and one of four teams allowing more than 3 per (3.01).

BET MONTREAL CANADIENS +140 OVER OTTAWA SENATORS