Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens (-140, 6)
The Montreal Canadiens showed a lot of resilience coming back from a 2-0 first-period deficit against the Washington Capitals Saturday night, but eventually suffered a 4-3 shootout loss. Montreal was 16 seconds away from escaping with a win, but a Paul Mara penalty for high-sticking led to a Caps power play goal with 11.4 seconds left in regulation.
“We have to stay out of the box”, Hamrlik told the Montreal Gazette. “We can’t take stupid penalties, especially against a team like this. We let them tie the game, and when it gets into a shootout, it’s 50-50.”
The Habs, who had only managed one power-play goal in six games prior to Saturday’s tilt, scored two on the man advantage in Saturday’s loss. They also managed to contain one of the league’s best offensive teams and got a couple of incredible stops from goalie Carey Price.
Fortunately for the Habs, they face a Toronto team that owns the worst defense in the league allowing 3.62 goals per game and the worst penalty kill with a 72.9 percent efficiency rate.
Pick: Canadiens
Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks (-180, 5.5)
Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek will return to San Jose for the first time since being traded to the Senators for Dany Heatley almost three months ago.
“It’s going to be weird for sure,” Michalek told the Ottawa Citizen. “It’s the first time, so it will be something special. I want to see how the fans are going to react. I was there for five years. That’s a lot of time, and I have good memories.”
San Jose’s top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Heatley has combined for nine goals and 24 points in the past five games.
The Sharks’ dominant offense has been kind to over bettors. Six of San Jose’s last seven games have exceeded the posted total.
Pick: Over