NHL Betting Free Picks: Edmonton @ Montreal
Added on Mar 11, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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Amid all of the basketball action offered by sportsbooks this week there’s still some good NHL betting opportunities as well. We’ll take a look at an inter conference game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Oilers are the worst team in hockey while Montreal is trying to hang on to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Edmonton Oilers at Montreal Canadiens
March 11, 4:05 PM Pacific
By now everyone knows that the Oilers are a mess, which isn’t surprising considering they rank near the bottom in both scoring defense and scoring offense. Allowing goals and not scoring them is a ticket to nowhere at any level of hockey. To their credit, the Oilers have actually won two of five since returning from the Winter Olympic break though both were at home. On the road, they’re 0-2 since returning from the hiatus. Montreal has been a very enigmatic team all year, but they’ve won 4 of 5 since returning to action after the Olympics with the only loss a one goal setback at San Jose. As is so often the case with games involving the NHL’s bottom feeders, we don’t have any interest in laying -240 with the Canadiens at home nor do we have much confidence in an Edmonton team with 8 road victories all year so we’ll look at the total.
Defensively, the Oilers are the worst team in hockey giving up an average of 3.35 goals per game. Montreal is just adequate in this area, ranked 13th in the league giving up 2.74 goals per game. Our concern isn’t with the defenses, however, its with Edmonton’s ability to score. They’re ranked 29th of 30 teams with an average of 2.38 goals per game. Montreal is better, though they won’t be mistaken for the Washington Capitals. The Habs average 2.6 goals per game ranking them 20th out of 30 teams. Since the Olympic break, however, the Habs’ offense has come to life scoring 4 or more goals in 4 of their 5 games (only San Jose limited them to 2). Edmonton has shown some signs of defensive improvement at home, but they’re still getting rolled up on the road. Montreal needs this game and the way to beat Edmonton is to attack. Canadiens are 3-1-1 to the Over since the break, and 5 of the L7 head to head in Montreal have gone Over the total.
Bet Montreal/Edmonton Over 5′ +105
