Free NHL Hockey Prediction: Canadiens vs. Golden Knights NHL Odds
Looking for Montreal Canadiens vs. Vegas Golden Knights free hockey plays & NHL Odds? NHL betting sees the Golden Knights hosting the Canadiens for game two on Wednesday night. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NHL Hockey games all season long so stay tuned for more FREE daily NHL hockey predictions like this Habs Knights matchup.
NHL Handicapping Analysis
(24-21-11) (0-1) Montreal Canadiens vs. Vegas Golden Knights (40-14-2) (1-0)
Date: Wednesday, June 16th, 2021
Time: 9:00pm ET
Venue: T-Mobile Arena in Vegas
NHL Hockey Moneyline Odds: Canadiens +220 Golden Knights -260
NHL Hockey Puck Line Odds: Canadiens +1.5 -125 Golden Knights -1.5 +105
NHL Betting Total: 5
Wednesday night will bring us game 2 of the conference final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Montreal Canadiens. The two teams have already seen tempers flair in game 1, so no matter the outcome it should be an exciting game.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas played an excellent game to open the series against Montreal. Fleury let in only one goal on 29 shots, and that lone goal against came on the power play.
All play-offs Vegas has been able to rely on their depth to score big goals, and that’s exactly what happened in game one. Shea Theodore, Alec Martinez, Mattias Janmark, and Nick Holden all found the back of the net.
The Golden Knights were also excellent defensively with 15 blocked shots, and 44 hits. The biggest area they should be looking to improve is on the power play. They went 0-4 on Monday night with the man advantage. If Vegas wants to end this series quickly, they will have to solve Montreal’s excellent penalty killing.
Power play scoring would also address another issue looming on the horizon. The top line continues to have scoring troubles. Depth is incredibly important in the Stanley Cup Play-offs, but Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty were given big contracts to put the puck in the net, and in game one Montreal kept them off the board.
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens got their first taste of a team outside of the Canadian division on Monday night, and I don’t think they liked the result. Price played well, saving 26 of 30 shots, but he looked human, and Vegas will keep trying to make him bleed.
Price can’t stop what he can’t see, and the Habs need to do a much better job of clearing the net front from screens. Of the four goals on Monday night, three of them were shots from defensemen at the point, two of them went straight in, and one was deflected by a relatively uncontested Janmark.
The strong spot for the Habs is definitely on defence. They were able to completely Neutralize Vegas’ top line just like they did to Winnipeg and Toronto. No matter what happens in the rest of the series, one of the big takeaways is that Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher are extremely underrated shut down forwards.
Their weakness is pretty obvious: Scoring. You’re not going to win a lot of games if you score no goals 5 on 5. Montreal will be looking to their young rising stars including Nick Suzuki, who Vegas included in the deal to acquire Max Pacioretty. We’ll see if Montreal can break out and score some goals in game 2.
NHL Betting Trends
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Montreal’s last 7 games.
- Montreal are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games.
- Montreal are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games against Vegas.
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Vegas’ last 6 games.
- Vegas are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Vegas’ last 6 games against Montreal.
- Vegas are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games at home.
Free Montreal Canadiens vs Vegas Golden Knights NHL Prediction:
Game one went just about how I predicted, with Vegas not allowing many high quality chances, and the team’s talent up front getting the job done. I don’t see Montreal being able to make any big adjustments in the short time between games, but they do have an idea of how Vegas plans to put the puck in the net. With that in mind, I am predicting a similar outcome, but a tighter game, so I’m taking the under once again.
4* Free NHL Betting Pick: Under 5 +115
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