NHL Lines: Montreal vs San Jose Pick
The real race to the playoffs officially begins tonight as the NHL’s trade deadline comes and goes. Monday night action features the Montreal Canadiens (41-16-5) take on the San Jose Sharks (30-25-8). Cappers Picks will provide free NHL picks all season so check back often.
NHL Predictions
Montreal vs San Jose
When: Monday March 3 at 10:00 pm EST
Where: SAP Center
TV: TVA
NHL Gambling Line: San Jose -104 / Montreal -106
NHL Gambling Over Under Line: 5
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Yes, there will actually be hockey games played on Monday evening following the trade deadline. Montreal and San Jose feature in the late start and are on opposite ends of the spectrum right now with the Canadiens trending up and the Sharks in a terrible slide.
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Monday kicks off the Habs’ California trip and they’ll be looking to keep their momentum rolling through one of the tougher road swings in hockey.
Canadiens
The visitors come into this one having won four straight and seven of their last 10. That run has put the Canadiens atop the Eastern Conference standings and just two points back of the NHL leading Nashville Predators, who are having their own struggles right now.
Montreal made a small splash (as of writing this) acquiring Jeff Petry from the Oilers.
Petry is not really a big name or flashy player, but he will add some stability on the back end and can eat up minutes to ease the workload of P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov.
This team is chasing down Nashville for tops in the NHL as mentioned, and the similarities are many between the two. Both teams boast a pretty solid group of forwards, but without anyone you’d consider among the NHL’s elite. They both have workhorse, All Star defensemen (Subban – Shea Weber), but most importantly they’re backstopped by a pretty clear cut Vezina Trophy candidate.
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The Vezina is in fact just a two horse race at this point, between Carey Price and Pekka Rinne. If you want to know why Montreal has had the success they have this year, look no further than the man in net, who will likely carry much of the load the rest of the way.
Sharks
It seems as though an era is coming to an end in San Jose. This team was a dominant force in the Western Conference for many years, but it seems like their time has finally come to start fresh.
Stars like Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are starting to get up in years and the team doesn’t seem to be able to keep pace with younger, faster teams. Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski look to be ready to step in as the team’s top line, giving Thornton and Marleau a reduced role, but at some point those two will retire or leave and that’s a big void to fill.
The Sharks have been in a terrific tailspin lately and have dropped three straight game, and eight straight games at home.
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That number is almost unheard of when you consider the fact that the three California teams have made their killing at home in the past and the southern state has been a nightmare for many teams.
Canadiens vs. Sharks 4* Free Pick
This is just an all around tough game to pick. The Sharks are struggling and the Canadiens are rolling, but it’s one of those situations where all streaks do eventually come to an end. Unfortunately for the Sharks I don’t think theirs ends tonight. The Canadiens (Carey Price) have just been playing too well lately and the Sharks are going to have a hard time breaking through.
This should be a close game, but with San Jose’s inability to score at home of late (five goals scored in their last three games at SAP Center) coming up against a hot goaltender is just a recipe for a loss. Take Montreal in this one.
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