NHL Monday Betting Recap, March 21

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, top two scorers in the NHL, each had an assist on Yamamoto’s goal. Edmonton, which had won its previous five games, did not score on its two power-play opportunities. Colorado, meanwhile. scored its two regulation goals with the man advantage.

Cale Makar had two assists, including one on the overtime winner, giving him five over the last three games.

“I kind of got tangled up with McDavid,” MacKinnon said. “Cale makes an unreal play, stuff Cale always does. Great sauce [pass] to me and I managed to score.”

Colorado, which improved to 25-3-3 at home, has the lowest odds at +450 to win the Stanley Cup.

North of the border, Brad Marchand scored twice, including 34 seconds into overtime, giving the visiting Boston Bruins a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

It was the sixth straight time the Bruins topped Montreal, each of the previous five games decided by multiple goals.

It was the first time since 2018 that Boston was road favorites against its Original Six rivals.

Montreal took a 2-1 lead on goals by David Savard and Joel Armia. Armia scored for the second game in a row. That was as many goals as he’d scored in his previous 45 games. It was Savard’s first goal since late December. Speaking of scoring droughts, Bruin defenseman Connor Clifton’s was at 30 games before getting the tying goal with 2:59 left in regulation.

Boston, without captain and first-line center Patrice Bergeron for the third game in a row (arm injury), had a pair of assists from Erik Haula. Included was a patient play in overtime, when he let Marchand join the play after he created a turnover behind the Boston net. Marchand had a beautiful finish as Boston continued its surge.

Boston, after securing the most points in the Eastern Conference since the start of January, is 12-2-1 in its last 15 games. It’s tied for third place (Toronto) in the Atlantic Division, though the Maple Leafs have a game in hand.

Haula and Clifton were interesting players to land on the scoresheet. Boston fans were clamoring for a better option than Haula to center Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak on the second line. Meanwhile, Clifton’s role moving forward is unknown after the Bruins acquired two veteran defensemen, including Hampus Lindholm, in separate trades.

Filip Forsberg, the subject of many trade rumors, had two goals and three assists to lead the visiting Nashville Predators to a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Forsberg had two of the Predators’ four third-period goals. Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist, and Ryan Johansen added a goal and an assist as Nashville pulled away for the win. Nashville remains tied for second with Minnesota in the Central Division, though the Wild have played two fewer games. Forsberg, Duchene and Johansen combined for four goals and four assists in the third period alone.

Forsberg has eight goals and nine assists in his last seven games.

Just call him Filip Scoresberg. 😉

He now has 17 points in his last seven games played! pic.twitter.com/OUKiWMl2TS

— NHL (@NHL) March 22, 2022

The three-goal win paid out +550.

Nashville scored three times in five power-play chances, as the Predators tallied at least four goals for the seventh game in a row. It was the fifth time in the last six games that a Nashville game finished over the NHL betting lines total.

Derek Grant scored twice and Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists for reeling Anaheim, now 0-5-2 in its last seven games.

Nicolas Deslauriers scored in his first game with the aforementioned Wild in a 3-0 home win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

Deslauriers hadn’t scored in the final seven games with Anaheim before being acquired by the Wild. Ryan Hartman and Matt Dumba also had goals. Cam Talbot stopped all 28 shots as Minnesota won its third game in a row, allowing just three goals during that time to move into that tie for second place in the Central Division standings with Nashville.

Vegas, losers of six of its last eight games, was blanked for the first time since February 16.

Winning by three goals had a Las Vegas odds payout of +550 for the Wild.

The Knights played without key forwards Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith and Mark Stone, Pacioretty and Stone missing a combined 73 games this season. Among the preseason favorites in the Western Conference, Vegas is clinging to the final playoff spot in the West.