Ottawa @ MONTREAL
MONTREAL -½ +109 over Ottawa

BEST LINES: Pinnacle -½ +109  SportsInteraction -½ +100 5DIMES -½ +106

Posted at 2:00 PM EST.

7:00 PM EST. Regulation only. Over the past eight years or so, no player in the league has won more games for their respective team than Carey Price has for the Montreal Canadiens. When Carey Price plays and he’s healthy, he’s the NHL’s most valuable player. When Price plays and he’s healthy, the Canadiens win and that’s all there is to it. Nobody is talking about how the Habs were the second best team on the ice against Buffalo and clearly the second best team on the ice against the Jackets on Monday because winning fixes everything. We’ve said it many times before and we’ll say it again that goaltending is the #1 deciding factor of NHL games and based on that alone, Carey Price vs Craig Anderson or Mike Condon is a mismatch of massive proportions. Furthermore, Price in goal raises the spirits of everyone in that Habs dressing room and also gives them more confidence. Montreal is still a top-5 possession team also and that matters.

As for Ottawa, we’ll start with Craig Anderson, a goaltender we have been warning you about all season. Anderson comes in with an ugly .895 save percentage. His advanced metric numbers are even worse, which put him in the same range as two goaltenders that have been waived this season in Antti Niemi and Louis Domingue, formerly of the Coyotes. Mike Condon is a better option to be sure but at the time of this writing, Ottawa’s goaltender has not been announced. If the Sens decide to use Condon, that’s fine too, as Condon played for the Canadiens and many of these Montreal snipers know his weaknesses. Condon’s save percentage (.905), in a much smaller sample size than Anderson’s, is just above the Mendoza line anyway. Ottawa’s possession numbers are awful too, as they rank 26th out of 31 teams. Furthermore, the Sens have several players all slumping at the exact same time, which includes Erik Karlsson, who is simply not producing. One has to wonder if Karlsson is playing through a nagging injury. Whatever the case may be, Ottawa is reeling with six straight losses while the Canadiens have their swag and confidence back due to the return of one very important player. Frankly, this is a bargain price considering all of the above.

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Our Pick

MONTREAL -½ +109 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.18)

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Chicago +167 over Ottawa