Two of the top three teams in the seven-team, all-Canadian North Division are set to meet up on Thursday, Feb. 11 when the Edmonton Oilers head on the road to take on the Montreal Canadiens. The game is set to get started at 7 p.m. ET from the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Montreal will enter Thursday’s game with an 8-3-2 overall record, which is good for 18 points and second place in the North. Edmonton is 8-7 for 16 points in third place, as both teams trail the Toronto Maple Leafs, which have 23 points to lead the division with an 11-2-1 record.
After a two-game sweep of the Vancouver Canucks to start out the month of February, the Canadiens lost two of their last three games. They split a series with the Ottawa Senators before losing 4-2 to the Maple Leafs at home on Wednesday night. Toronto scored two goals in a 42-second span to get the best of Montreal. Josh Anderson and Tomas Tatar each scored a goal for the Canadiens. The Maple Leafs continue to be on a roll and have gone undefeated in their last nine games.
The Oilers have gotten off to a bit of a hot streak to climb up the division standings. Edmonton won five of its last six games including a two-game sweep over the Senators earlier this week. In the last game on Tuesday night, the Oilers earned a 3-2 road win over Ottawa, and the scoring came from defensemen Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Tyson Barrie in the victory as the Senators continue to struggle to their 2-11-1 record for last place in the North.
This will be the third game of the season between these two teams. The Canadiens and Oilers played on Jan. 16 and Jan. 18 in Edmonton, and Montreal earned a 5-1 win in the first game and a 3-1 victory two days later. Following Thursday night’s game, the Canadiens will take on the Maple Leafs in consecutive games, while Edmonton will see the Winnipeg Jets in its next two.
Montreal has nobody listed on the injury report, but that’s not the case for the Oilers. Jesse Puljujarvi is questionable with an undisclosed injury, and Zack Kassian (upper body) was moved to injured reserve with an upper body injury after a fight against the Senators on Monday. He joined Ethan Bear (head), Gaetan Haas (undisclosed) and Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) on the Oilers’ injured reserve list.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Montreal Canadiens Betting Odds
Oddsmakers set the number for a variety of potential wagers to make. All odds are via a popular United States sportsbook.
Puck line
The Canadiens puck line is -1.5 with +165 odds, while Edmonton has -200 odds to cover the +1.5 goals.
Betting trends: Of the eight games it won this season, Montreal has won seven of them by more than 1.5 goals. On the other side, Edmonton has lost by more than 1.5 goals in six of its seven losses.
Total goals
Oddsmakers are expecting this to be a fairly high scoring matchup with the over/under set at 6.5, which is the highest goal total among all the games being played across the NHL on Thursday. The “over” is getting -120 odds with the “under” at -103.
Betting trends: The total went over in six of Edmonton’s last nine games, but the under hit in four of the Oilers’ last six matchups.
Moneyline
Montreal is favored coming into this game with -152 odds to earn the win outright as the home favorite. If Edmonton can earn the slight upset victory as road underdogs, the payout would see +130 odds.
Betting trends: Edmonton is 5-1 on the moneyline in its last six games, and Montreal is 8-4 straight up in its last 12.
