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.