Bruins Going After Fifth Win in a Row
All you need to know about the type of seasons that the longtime rivals are having is that the Boston Bruins have as many homes wins as the Montreal Canadiens have overall victories heading into their latest matchup.
The question is whether the Bruins will clinch the Atlantic Division title before the Canadiens are eliminated from the playoffs.
Montreal began March with an 0-5-2 record but the Canadiens have won two of their last four games. Boston takes a four-game winning streak into the game. The Bruins have allowed three goals over the last four games so keep that in mind when it comes time to make NHL picks.
When looking at some of the NHL news, Forwards Josh Anderson and Jesse Ylonen are both questionable for Montreal while forwards Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans, Sean Monahan, and Juraj Slafkovsky as well as defensemen Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, and Jordan Harris.
For Boston, forwards Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall and defenseman Derek Forbort are out.
According to the NHL playoff odds, the Bruins (+375) continue to have the best odds to win the Stanley Cup title. The Canadiens are well back at +100000 in the championship odds.
Opportunity Knocks
With all the injuries suffered by players expected to have key roles with the Canadiens, there have been opportunities for unproven players to show what they can do.
One of those players is former Colorado Avalanche first-round pick Justin Barron.
The 21-year-old defenseman leads Montreal with five assists over the last four games and in 28 games this season, he has three goals and 11 assists.
Anthony Richard, who has spent most of the last seven seasons playing in the AHL, has two goals and an assist over his last three games.
The Las Vegas NHL odds total has gone over in four of Montreal’s last five games.
Back on Track
Jake DeBrusk has had tremendous highs and lows during his time with the Bruins.
He is certainly trending in the right direction these days. DeBrusk has goals in each of his last three games as he has three goals and three assists to go with a +7 rating. DeBrusk can match his season-high for consecutive games with at least one goal in this matchup.
“It was one of those passes where it was just all world and I was happy to finish it for him.” — @JDebrusk on scoring off of @Bmarch63‘s filthy feed in the first pic.twitter.com/L2xvY0WwYO
— x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 22, 2023
DeBrusk scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over Ottawa the last time, it was his first GWG since the Winter Classic win on Jan. 2.
The Bruins are 18-1-1 when DeBrusk has at least one goal and with DeBrusk playing alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the top line, he has a chance to top his career-high of 27 goals.
The NHL betting lines total has gone over in four of Boston’s last six games.
Canadiens vs Bruins Game Injuries
Canadiens vs Bruins Head-to-Head
Boston has won eight straight games against Montreal and that includes a 4-2 road win on Jan. 24. David Pastrnak had a goal and three assists in that game to give him nine goals and four assists in his last eight games versus Montreal. Seven of those wins have been by at least two goals.
Boston has won four straight games at home against the Canadiens with the Bruins outscoring the Canadiens 17-5 in those games.
Just one of the last five games between the teams went under the total.
Canadiens vs Bruins Game Information
- Game: Canadiens (28-37-6) vs Bruins (54-11-5)
- Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
- Day/Time: Thursday, March 23rd, 7 p.m. ET
- Canadiens vs Bruins Live Stream: NHL.TV
Canadiens vs Bruins Betting Lines
Senators vs Bruins Picks and Prediction
It was probably not good news for Montreal that Boston barely beat Ottawa the last time out. The Bruins will be looking to take command of this game early on against a team that is missing so many crucial players.
Since the start of March, the Canadiens and Bruins rank 22nd and 24th in power play percentage. The big difference is in the penalty-killing department as Montreal is the only team in the NHL to kill off fewer than 60% of the opposing power plays.
The Bruins are 47-11-5 when listed by the sportsbook as the favorite. Montreal is 25-39-6 as the underdog. The Bruins have suffered just three regulation losses in 33 home games. The Canadiens have 13 road wins, the fewest among the Atlantic Division teams.
The Boston Bruins are listed at -420 in our Las Vegas hockey odds. This means that if you wager $100 on the Bruins, you have a chance to win $24. Montreal is +340, offering a chance to win $340 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the Boston Bruins an 80.77% chance to win, with the Montreal Canadiens at 22.73%.
Canadiens vs Bruins Trends
Canadiens vs Bruins Edge
Canadiens vs Bruins Results
Canadiens vs Bruins Game Summary
