Two clubs squaring off for the first time this season, the St. Louis Blues and the Montreal Canadiens face off at Bell Centre for an East-West showdown. Fox Sports Midwest will air the game, which gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 17.
St. Louis Blues at Montreal Canadiens Odds
Montreal (-115) is currently favored over St. Louis (-105), and the oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 6 goals. The line for betting that total stands at -115 money on the over and -105 on the under.
Earning moneyline bettors 2.5 units, the Canadiens are 3-2 straight up (SU) overall this year. That early-season winning percentage is a remarkable improvement over the 29-53 record from last year’s regular season campaign. Through five regular season matches, two of the team’s games have gone over the total, while an additional two have gone under and one has pushed. This year, the team’s 2-1 SU at home.
Montreal’s successfully converted on 13.6 percent of its power play opportunities thus far. That’s a big drop-off from last year, when it was ranked ninth in the league by scoring on 21.3 percent of its extra-man chances. Its penalty kill has gotten stronger year-over-year as the team’s gone from successfully defending 74.1 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked 30th overall last season) to 76.9 percent this year.
As a collective unit, Montreal has been whistled for penalties just 3.2 times per game this season, a number that’s improved from last year’s 3.8 penalties per game the team surrendered. After serving an average of 8.6 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team has had to kill penalties for 8.6 minutes per outing this season.
Boasting a .909 save percentage and 23.3 saves per game, Carey Price (1-2-1) has been the top option in goal for the Canadiens this season. If the Habs decide to give him the evening off, however, head coach Claude Julien may roll with the undefeated Antti Niemi (2-0 record, .893 save percentage, 2.88 goals against average).
The Habs will continue to look for leadership out of Tomas Tatar and Paul Byron. Tatar (seven points) has tallied three goals and four assists while Byron has three goals and two assists to his name so far in the early stages of the season.
On the other hand, St. Louis is 1-4 straight up (SU) and has lost 4.5 units for bettors taking the moneyline thus far. Through five regular season outings, three of its games have gone over the total, while one has gone under the total and one has pushed.
St. Louis has scored on 30.4 percent of its power play chances this year after converting on 15.4 percent of its extra-man opportunities last season (a percentage that was ranked just 30th in the NHL). The team has gone from successfully defending 79.6 percent of opponent power plays (ranked 17th overall last season) to 80.0 percent this year.
St. Louis’ skaters have been whistled for penalties only 3.0 times per game this season. Last season, that number was at 3.3, which was the third-lowest mark in the league. After serving an average of 7.7 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team has had to kill penalties for 6.0 minutes per outing this season.
Jake Allen (.878 save percentage and 4.13 goals against average) has been the primary option in goal for St. Louis. Allen is averaging 30.5 saves per game and owns a 1-3-2 record.
Leading the offensive attack for the visiting Blues will be Brayden Schenn (two goals, three assists) and David Perron (four goals, zero assists).
St. Louis Blues vs. Montreal Canadiens Betting Predictions
Prediction: SU Winner – Canadiens, O/U – Over
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Notes
Betting Trends
The total has gone over in three of St. Louis’ last five games.
After averaging the 10th-most shots in the league last season (32.7 per game), Montreal’s attempted 36.0 shots per contest overall this season, and 36.0 across their last 10 games.
After going 2-6 in games decided by a shootout last year, Montreal is off to a 1-0 start in shootouts this season. St. Louis was 3-0 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
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