The best team in the league, the Washington Capitals, hosts the Montreal Canadiens tonight at 7 PM ET at the Verizon Center, looking to take advantage early in the first game of the first round of the NHL playoffs.
NHL Betting Odds:
Montreal Canadiens +1.5
Washington Capitals -1.5
O/U 6
The NHL betting trends say the Capitals were one of the best squads against the spread all season with a 54-28 ATS record; meanwhile the Canadiens posted a 39-43 ATS record this season.
Montreal hasn’t done well whenever they have a big power team in front; so far they are 13-23 ATS when playing against a team with a winning record and 22-31 ATS when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season in the last three years.
The Capitals and Canadiens met for the last time on February 10 with a 6-5 OT win by Montreal; keep in mind that Washington is 23-8 ATS revenging a loss versus opponent.
Also the Capitals are 33-15 ATS when playing against a team with a losing record and are 5-1 ATS in April games, not to mention 30-12 ATS in the second half of the season.
Montreal ended the regular season losing 3-4 against Toronto; consider that they are 10-13 ATS after a division game; plus 18-21 ATS in the second half of the season.
Washington also has an amazing 30-12 ATS record the second half of the season, and you should know that they are 5-0 ATS when playing with 3 or more days rest.
If we are talking first round playoffs, the Capitals are 7-7 ATS in the last 3 seasons and the Canadiens are 4-7 ATS.
Also, the lines set the game total on six goals; keep in mind that Washington is 25-11 ATS in home games where the total is 6 or more.
WASHINGTON is 7-5 against the spread versus MONTREAL over the last 3 seasons, plus 7 of 11 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL in the last 3 seasons.
