Montreal Canadiens vs Vancouver Canucks NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/1/21
2021-02-01 19:00:00 EDT
The Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens meet Monday in NHL action at the Bell Centre.
The Vancouver Canucks look to stay hot while building on their four-game winning streak. The Vancouver Canucks are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 14.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Brock Boeser leads Vancouver with eight goals, Quinn Hughes has 10 assists and Elias Pettersson has 27 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vancouver Canucks are allowing 3.4 goals per game and are killing 79.6 percent of their opponents power plays. Braden Holtby has given up 16 goals on 171 shots faced while Thatcher Demko has given up 19 goals on 222 shots.
The Montreal Canadiens look for a win after winning five of their last seven games. The Montreal Canadiens are averaging 4.1 goals per game and are scoring on 25.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Tyler Toffoli leads Montreal with six goals, Jonathan Drouin has seven assists and Brendan Gallagher has 32 shots on goal. Defensively, the Montreal Canadiens are allowing 2.6 goals per game and are killing 78.9 percent of their opponents power plays. Carey Price has given up 15 goals on 147 shots faced and Jake Allen has given up five goals on 75 shots.
The Canucks are 7-3 in their last 10 Monday games and 4-0 in their last 4 overall. The Canadiens are 1-4 in their last 5 home games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The under is 4-0-2 in Canadiens last 6 home games. The Canucks are 1-6 in the last 7 meetings in Montreal and 5-17 in the last 22 meetings. The road team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings. The favorite is 12-4 in the last 16 meetings.
The Vancouver Canucks are playing well enough to consider in the underdog role, but they now go up against a team that has owned them over the years. In fact, the Montreal Canadiens have beaten the Canucks twice this season already and has outscored them 12-5 in the last two meetings alone. I have little choice but to side with history in this contest, and I’ll take the Habs with the PL to shorten the price.
