NHL Hockey Betting for October 22, 2016
Busy Saturday of NHL action with 12 games scheduled. Three are currently ‘off the board. Chicago/Toronto is off the board due to multiple injuries on both teams, most significantly tothe Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa. Detroit/Toronto is also off the board though no major injuries to either team. Detroit played on Friday night and it’s likely due to that and the goaltending assignments being in a state of flux. New Jersey/Minnesota off the board due to injury and illnesses on both rosters. Dallas/Columbus is off the board due to multiple injuries for Dallas. Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray left Friday’s game with an ‘upper body injury’ and his status going forward is unknown. Finally, Nashville/Pittsburgh is off the board. Nashville played Friday while Pittsburgh has injuries to several key players including defenseman Kris Letang who is listed as ‘questionable’ here. Also worth noting that Nashville may start Marek Mazanec in net and give Pekka Rinne the night off in the second game of a back to back situation.
NHL HOCKEY BETTING FOR OCTOBER 22, 2016:
MONTREAL CANADIENS AT BOSTON BRUINS:
This game illustrates how arbitrary it is for some games to be ‘off the board’ and other games ‘on the board’. This game is *not* off the board despite the fact that Boston goaltender Tuuka Rask missed practice on Friday with ‘general soreness’ and his status is listed as ‘questionable’. Rask is among the best goalies in the NHL so far with a 1.67 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He’s also been in net for all of the 3-1-0 Bruins’ victories this year. Suggesting that he might play is the fact that the team hasn’t called up either Malcolm Subban or Zane McIntyre from Providence to be an emergency backup. Of course they could always give backup Anton Khudobin the start and let Rask back him up which would give him the day off unless there’s an injury. In any case, Rask has been the Bruins’ ‘MVP’ so far and its strange that his ‘questionable’ status doesn’t get this game off the board when far less significant injury questions in other games results in them being taken down.
Regardless of Rask’s status, Montreal is the play here. The Habs have sort of been forgotten about since midway through last season when Carey Price went down. Price is back now and the team is leading the Atlantic Division with a 3-1-0 lead. They’re tied for the league in goals per game with three other teams (Edmonton, Chicago, Ottawa) and tied for second (with Vancouver) in goals against per game with 1.50. They’re still giving up too many shots (33.5) but otherwise are showing nice balance. They’ve pretty much had their way with the Bruins in recent years winning 7 of the last 9 head to head including 4 straight at the TD Garden. Last year’s head to head play was closer (3-2 Montreal) but both Boston wins came after Carey Price went out for the year. This Montreal team may be better than the one that started last season winning 9 straight and 19 of 26. Shea Weber gives the Habs a big, tough and physical defensive presence on the ice that also happens to have a 108 MPH Howitzer for a slap shot. Of the ice, he’s a great locker room leader and generally classy guy. Montreal was a team that could be physically intimidated at times last year and particularly during their ‘post Price swoon’. That’s not going to happen with the 6’4″ 234 pound hard hitting Weber on the roster.
BET MONTREAL CANADIENS +100 OVER BOSTON BRUINS