It’s an Original Six matchup from Madison Square Garden on Friday night as the New York Rangers host the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs should be slight favorites on the Mybookie NHL odds, although both teams will be playing the second of a back-to-back.
How to Bet Canadiens vs Rangers NHL Odds & Game Info
- When: Friday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Madison Square Garden
- TV: NHL Center Ice
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- Radio: SiriusXM
- NHL Odds: Montreal Canadiens -115 (Total 6.5 goals)
Why Bet on Montreal?
The Habs are looking to build some momentum here. They got off to a 11-5-3 start but then went on an eight-game losing streak. That was snapped 4-2 against the Islanders on Tuesday. Phillip Danault snapped an eight-game goal drought, while Jeff Petry snapped a lengthy goal drought of his own: 21 games. Carey Price allowed two goals on 23 shots in Tuesday’s win. Price improved to 11-9-3 with a 3.13 goals-against average and .899 save percentage, slapping the brakes on a 0-5-1 skid across his past six starts.Defenseman Ben Chiarot has been logging some big minutes of late. On Tuesday night, he set a new career-high in ice time for the third consecutive game, this time 30:47. In addition to being solid defensively, the former fourth-round selection has three goals and 10 points.
Should be Price back in there for this one after rookie Cayden Primeau made his NHL debut in net on Thursday against Colorado. The Canadiens chose him in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL Draft. The 20-year-old netminder had seven wins with a 2.58 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 12 games with Laval of the AHL this season.
Price’s Back
Claude Julien said his rationale for starting Primeau vs. the Avalanche is that he wants Price against the Rangers because the intra-conference points might be crucial down the road in a wild-card race.“He was going to play one of the two games [in the back-to-back set this week]. At the end of the day, the team we’re playing [on Friday night at Madison Square Garden] is in our conference. Whether it’s division or wild card, there’s a chance we’ll be battling with that team down the road, so it’s an important win for us tomorrow [against the Rangers],” explained Julien. “We just felt that was the best scenario.”
Montreal is 0-1 vs. the Rangers this season, losing 6-5 at home on Nov. 23. Montreal led 4-0 early in the second period and 5-3 in the third. Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen each scored twice and Canadiens captain Shea Weber added another. Price stopped 28 of 34 shots in defeat.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.32
- Shots: 35.18
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.52
Defense
- Goals: 3.50
- Shots: 31.61
- PP/PK Percentage: 25.88
Why Bet on NY Rangers?
As noted above, the Rangers are 1-0 vs. Montreal this year, rallying from down 4-0 for the 6-5 win on Nov. 23. New York defenseman Jacob Trouba scored the winner with a shot from the point that went off Jeff Petry and in with 7:50 left in the game. Artemi Panarin scored at 5:51 of the third on a no-look backhand pass from Chris Kreider before Brendan Lemieux tied the game at 5-5 with a short-handed goal at 8:40 on a 2-on-1. It was his second goal of the game. Rangers backup goalie Alexander Georgiev was shaky in the first period, but he stopped 38 of 43 shots.Georgiev started Thursday night in Columbus so it will be Henrik Lundqvist on Friday. Lundqvist allowed four goals on 32 shots in Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights scored the first four goals of the game and the Rangers were never able to recover. King Henrik has now dropped back-to-back starts. He owns a 7-6-2 record with a 3.21 goals-against-average and a .910 save percentage this season.
The Rangers were hoping to get back blueliner Marc Staal either on Thursday or for this game. The 32-year-old has been out since Nov. 10. He has one goal and one assist in 11 games this season. No guarantee he will even play if healthy.
“We’ll see how these other six [defensemen] are going,” head coach David Quinn said. “They’ve all got to earn their keep. The ‘D’ corps has played well. It’s been a good balance with all three pairings. We’ll address that topic when we have to.”
Some Numbers
Since Oct. 22, the Rangers are 7-1-0 following a loss. The Blueshirts are 11-0 when holding opponents to two goals or fewer.The development of Filip Chytil has been a surprising development for the Blueshirts this year. Last season, Chytil played in 75 games, putting up 23 points. 10 of those points came at five-on-five. He struggled to find a spot in the lineup. Since being called up this year, Artemi Panarin is the only Rangers forward who has averaged more time on ice per game at five-on-five than Chytil. He has become a key member of the top-six forwards. Chytil has eight goals and two assists for 10 points, each of them coming at five-on-five. He had 14 five-on-five points all of last season.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.23
- Shots: 29.27
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.75
Defense
- Goals: 3.35
- Shots: 35.62
- PP/PK Percentage: 24.51
Canadiens vs Rangers NHL Betting Trends
- Under is 21-8-7 in the last 36 meetings in New York
- Home team is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings
- Favorite is 7-1 in the last 8 meetings
- Canadiens are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games on the road
- The total has gone OVER in 7 of Montreal’s last 10 games against an opponent in the East conference
- Rangers are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games when playing at home against Montreal
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of NY Rangers’ last 5 games this season
