Here are Monday’s NHL predictions.
Series Odds: Washington -265
Montreal +215
Game One
7 p.m. ET
The Montreal Canadiens join the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues as one of three teams that punched their ticket to the postseason in their final regular season game. The Habs, who had missed the playoffs the previous three seasons, kept their streak alive of never missing the playoffs in four consecutive seasons. Montreal won seven of their final 10 regular season games.
The Washington Capitals are the first team in 45 years to go from being the last team to clinch a playoff spot in one season to the first team to earn a playoff birth in the following season. Washington stumbled into the playoffs, losing eight of their last 12 games and gave up three goals or more in 12 of their last 13 games. The Capitals also had a stretch of 11 consecutive games of giving up three goals or more that overlapped the 4 Nations tournament in February.
An upper body injury cost Logan Thompson the final seven games of the regular season, but Thompson has been back on the ice practicing with his team the past two days. If he doesn’t have any hiccups along the way, expect him to start Game One for Washington. If Thompson can’t go, then former Montreal Canadien Charlie Lindgren will get the net. Lindgren has won three of his four starts against Montreal but lost all four of his playoff starts last year against the Rangers.
Alexander Ovechkin leads all active players with 72 playoff goals and has found the back of the net twice in the four games he has gone up against Habs goalie Samuel Montembeault. The Montreal netminder is 2-3 with a goals against average of 3.49 in five starts against Washington. Tom Wilson led the Capitals with three goals this season against the Canadiens.
The Canadiens are the youngest playoff team and the second youngest team in the National Hockey League, so it should come as no surprise that they are led up front by twenty-four-year-old Cole Caufield, who had a team best 37 goals, and 25-year-old Nick Suzuki, who had 30 goals and a team best 89 points. Suzuki’s seven goals and 16 points led Montreal in their last playoff appearance (2020-21). Caufield (three goals, two assists) led the Canadiens in scoring versus the Capitals this season. Nick Suzuki (two goals, two assists) and Lane Hutson (0 goals, four assists) were next up.
Game One Predictions: Montreal Canadiens Team Total Over 2.5 (-115) – 1 unitMontreal Canadiens/Washington Capitals Over 5.5 (-130) – 1 unitAlexander Ovechkin anytime goal +120 – .20 unitsTom Wilson anytime goal +240 – .20 unitsNick Suzuki/Cole Caufield Over ½ point parlay +112 – .20 unitsMike Matheson Over 2.5 blocked shots +125 – .20 units
David Savard Over 2.5 blocked shots +210 – .20 units
Game Two
7:30 p.m. ET
The Winnipeg Jets scored three goals in the final 11 minutes and erased a 3-2 deficit and turned it into a 5-3 win to take Game One of their best-of-seven series against the St. Louis Blues. Kyle Connor’s game winner with less than two minutes left in regulation gives him seven goals and eleven points in the Jets’ last nine home playoff games. We gave out a Connor anytime goal in Game One and will come back with him to score again in Game Two.
Jets captain Adam Lowry added an empty net goal, giving him seven goals in Winnipeg’s last 11 playoff games. We had Lowry in Game One (+700), and we will come back with him in Game Two. Oddsmakers are catching on to Lowry, and his anytime goal prop took a small dip. Mark Scheifele scored in Game One and added a pair of assists. Scheifele’s 22 playoff goals are a franchise best.
For the Blues, Game One was a missed opportunity. They had two leads in this game and found the back of the net three times against Connor Hellebuyck. If St. Louis loses this series, they can look back at a missed opportunity in the opening game of the series. Players have shared with me that momentum doesn’t carry from game to game in the playoffs, but from shift to shift. I have zero concerns that the Blues will let Game One linger, and I am back on the Blues winning Game Two. Let’s not forget that the Jets have won the first game of each of their last two playoff series (Colorado and Vegas) only to lose the next four games each time,
Game Two Predictions: Adam Lowry anytime goal +575 – .20 unitsKyle Connor/Robert Thomas Over ½ pt parlay +107 – .20 unitsMark Sche1fele anytime goal +170 – .20 unitsSt. Louis Blues ML +160 – .50 unitsJordan Kyrou anytime goal +235 -.20 units
Alex Iafallo anytime goal +300 -.20 units
Game Two
9:30 p.m. ET
The Dallas Stars are amid a pair of eight-game losing streaks after dropping game one of their series with the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday by a score of 5-1. The Stars have lost eight consecutive series openers, and their overall losing streak has reached eight games.
Despite the Game One loss, coach Pete DeBoer and his players felt it was the best game they had played in a month. It was the first time in 13 games the Stars held their opponent to under 26 shots on goal in a game. The Stars did control much of the play early on, but Colorado jumped out to a 2-0 lead on some odd goals. One that can be best described as a “bicycle kick” and the other a “knuckle puck” that were able to find their way past Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.
At the other end of the ice, Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood did not look like a goalie making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut, stopping 23 of 24 shots on goal. With Miro Heiskanen still unavailable, it means more will continue to be needed from blueliners Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley, especially in the defensive zone. We were on the Lindell block shots prop on Saturday, and it was at plus money. The books aren’t so generous today, but I will still ride the prop until it lets us down.
Thomas Harley was also a shot-blocking machine in Game One with six blocks, and he is available at a good plus price. Nathan MacKinnon had seven of Colorado’s 25 shots on goal in the series opener. The Avs other 12 forwards had a combined nine shots on goal in the game. I do like Colorado to take a 2-0 series lead. All five games to kick off the playoffs have seen the winning team score at least four goals and to win by two goals or more.
Game Two Predictions: Nathan MacKinnon Over 3.5 shots on goal (-140) – 1 unitNathan MacKinnon Over 4.5 shots on goal (+155) – .25 unitsColorado Avalanche Team Total Over 3.5 (+112) – .25 unitsEsa Lindell Over 2.5 blocked shots (-110) – .50 unitsEsa Lindell Over 3.5 blocked shots +230 – .15 unitsThomas Harley Over 2.5 blocked shots +260 – .50 units
Thomas Harley Over 3.5 blocked shots +425 – .15 units
