Montreal Canadiens vs Columbus Blue Jackets 1/30/22 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Columbus Blue Jackets and the Montreal Canadiens meet in NHL action from the Bell Centre on Sunday night.

The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to build on their 5-3 win over the Rangers last time out. Boone Jenner leads the Blue Jackets in scoring with 30 points including a team-high 18 goals while Oliver Bjorkstrand has 28 points including 12 goals and 16 assists. Jakub Voracek’s also got 27 points with a team-high 26 assists. Zach Werenski has 25 points with 19 assists and Elvis Merzlikins has seen the majority of Columbus’ action in goal, going 14-11-1 with a 3.18 GAA and a .911 save percentage this season.

The Montreal Canadiens will look to snap a five-game losing skid after a 7-2 loss to Edmonton last time out. Nick Suzuki leads the Habs in scoring with 25 points including 8 goals and 17 assists while Tyler Toffoli also has 15 assists with his 23 points and Josh Anderson’s posted a team-high 9 goals this season. Jake Allen has seen the majority of the action in goal for Montreal, going 5-16-2 with a 3.15 GAA and a .901 save percentage this season.

Columbus is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games against the Atlantic division and 0-5 in their last 5 games played on 2 day’s rest while the over is 9-1-1 in their last 11 games as a favorite. Montreal is 1-6 in their last 7 home games and 2-12 in their last 14 games when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in their previous games.

I keep trying to make a case either way, but Columbus has been bad to put it nicely on the road and Montreal, well, it’s Montreal. Instead, I’m going with the under because I see this as a 3-2 game at best whichever way you slice it and I honestly think this is one of those games where the offense is so bad that it makes the defenses look better than they actually are at this point.