The Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens meet in NHL action from the Bell Centre on Saturday. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Carolina is listed as a -265 road favorite while Montreal is a +225 home underdog. The total for this game is set at 6.5 goals.
Injuries
For Carolina, Ondrej Kase is out until mid-April with a concussion while Teuvo Teravainen is questionable for this game with an illness. For Montreal, Joel Armia and Kirby Dach are out until mid-April while David Savard is questionable for this game with a lower body injury.
Matchup History
Carolina’s 4-3 shootout win over the Canadiens on March 7th, 2023, made it five straight wins in this head-to-head matchup for the Hurricanes.
Trends
Carolina is 1-4 in their last 5 games against the Atlantic division and 16-7 in their last 23 road games while the over is 9-3 in their last 12 games against a team with a losing record. Montreal is 53-110 in their last 163 games overall and 2-6 in their last 8 home games while the over is 8-2 in their last 10 games against the Metropolitan division.
Pick
I’m sticking with Carolina on the puck line here. Montreal is a better team than their record would indicate and Carolina’s had their struggles as of late, but the Hurricanes are simply the better team here and I just feel like with a division title hanging in the balance with upcoming results, I think the Canes come out with a strong effort to get the win on the -1.5 puck line here.