Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: Washington -165 / Montreal +145 O/U 6 goals
Time: 7:30 PM EST Wednesday February 10, 2010 on TSN
Can anybody beat Washington? Tonight the Capitals look to tie the longest winning streak in franchise history, as they have won 14 in a row. The Capitals are running away with the Eastern Conference and the Southeast Division, as they lead the east by 14 points over New Jersey and lead their conference by a whopping 25 points over Tampa Bay. Montreal is coming off a loss, is 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, and is in the 7th position in the Eastern Conference.
This season Montreal is 14-12-4 at home and Washington is 18-9-3 on the road.
In their last games Washington beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Sunday while Montreal lost to the Boston Bruins 3-0 also on Sunday.
The Caps have the league's highest scoring offense (3.90 goals per game) and superstar Alex Ovechkin, who leads the league in goals (42) and points (86) has been on fire during the streak scoring 30 points including scoring a hat trick in Sunday's win over the Penguins.
Ovechkin has 3 goals and 5 assists in 9 career games in Montreal.
Montreal's offense, which ranks only ranks 27th in the league (2.48 goals per game), has to figure out how to score on Caps' G Jose Theodore (20 wins 2.87 GAA save percentage 90.8%), who has won 10 straight starts.
If Montreal can play some good defense they have a good chance to win this game, as the Caps do not have the best defense allowing an average of 2.69 goals per game.
A lot of the responsibility tonight falls on which G is in between the pipes for the Canadiens. Either Carey Price (11 wins 2.73 GAA save percentage 91.3%) or Jaroslav Halak (17 wins 2.45 GAA save percentage 92.7%) have to play well to try to contain a Washington offense that is on fire.
Montreal will count on Mike Cammalleri, who leads the team in goals (26), and Tomas Plekanec, who leads the team in assists (43) and points (58), will be counted on to supply the offense tonight.
Washington has won their last 5 road games, has an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 road games, and has an Over record of 11-4-3 in their last 18 games.
Montreal is 1-5 in their last 6 home games against teams with a winning road record, has an Under record of 5-1-1 in their last 7 games, and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 home games.
Washington has won 6 of their last 8 games against Montreal and in the last 5 meetings between these 2 teams the Over record is 3-1-1.
Our Selection : The Capitals will try to get their 15th win in a row tonight when they take on the Canadiens in Montreal. Washington has the highest scoring offense in the NHL at almost 4 goals a game. Montreal will be without Mike Cammalleri out 6 weeks with a knee injury, who leads the team in goals. Montreal is 1-5 in their last 6 home games against teams with a winning road record. Washington has won 6 of their last 8 games against Montreal. Take Washington -.5 -120 in 60 mins
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.