The Colorado Avalanche face the Montreal Canadiens in the weekend’s most lopsided matchup. It’s no shock that the NHL odds have the top-ranked Avalanche as a massive favorite even on the puck line. Will the Habs put up a fight as we preview the game with the latest news, stats, and injury reports?
Montreal Canadiens (8-25-6) vs Colorado Avalanche (27-8-3)
Colorado Crush
This New Year has been all Colorado: they’ve been crushing the online sports betting lines, going 10-0-1 and covering three of their last four puck lines. What’s improved in Colorado is their defense: the team is allowing 2.3 goals per game as opposed to 3.4 from 2021.
Colorado is not only hitting its stride by limiting its opponents’ scoring chances, but Darcy Kuemper has started to pick up his play in net. The former Coyote has not lost in regulation since November 26 and has put up a 9-0-1 record with a .923 save percentage (SV%) in this span.
.@Avalanche strike first 💥
Nathan MacKinnon connects with Mikko Rantanen!
📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/vl7BDsNVNV
— ESPN (@espn) January 21, 2022
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen have also been on a tear, both scoring 18 points in their 11 games. And Colorado is doing this against some decent competition: Anaheim, Minnesota, and Toronto just to name a few.
Le Hab-Nots Of Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens’ nicknames are The Habs (after Les Habitants). So we’d like to think they’re more of the “Hab-Nots” at this point: they “Hab Not” a chance. Alright, that’s it for the dad jokes. But you’ll pardon us for injecting some mirth in covering Montreal’s abysmal season.
What positives can we extract from this team? It is injury-plagued, cleaned out its front office, and now last in the league in wins, point percentage, goals, goals allowed, and goal differential. You’ll have to go back to 1940 to find a Canadiens team that was worse than this one.
With that said, the Canadiens have promising talents like defenseman Alexander Romanov and All-Star Nick Suzuki. Hiring player agent Kent Hughes as general manager is lauded as a sharp move so there is hope for the future. But as it stands now, betting online against Montreal every game is the only sharp play.
Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche Head to Head
| Montreal | Stat | Colorado |
| 3-7-0 | Record | 7-3-0 |
| 3-7-0 | Over/Under | 3-7-0 |
| 2.4 | Average Score | 2.7 |
| 13.5% | Power Play % | 10% |
| 90% | Penalty Kill % | 86.5% |
Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche Game Information
- Date: January 22, 2022
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Location: Ball Arena
- Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche Live Stream: NHL Live
Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche Betting Lines
Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche Prediction
Colorado wins. This much is certain. The question is, by how many goals will Colorado win? The puck line is already juiced so we can expect at least a two-goal win, right? The Avalanche trounced the Habs 4-1 earlier this season and they have won their last four home games at home against them, two by a pair of goals.
Sam Montembault will likely get the call for Montreal and he’s had a decent run: a .926 SV% in his last five games, allowing no more than three goals in four. But given the one-way action for Colorado, either bet them on the puck line or pass.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche -1½ (-150)
It’s nice to see the ‘under’ is on the plus side here as this is likely what could happen. It does not escape us that Colorado can drop seven or more goals on Montreal. But most likely, Colorado scores four goals while Montreal scores one or none.
Pick: Under 6 (Ev)
Parlay: Avalanche -1½ and Under 6 at +233
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