The Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins will both be trying to pick up a win on Friday when they battle at Mellon Arena.
Oddsmakers currently have the Penguins listed as 260-moneyline favorites versus the Canadiens, while the game’s total is sitting at 5½.
Jaroslav Halak turned away 41 shots to help the Canadiens come back to upset the Capitals 2-1 last time out and clinch the first-round series in Game 7. The Canadiens won that game as +260 underdogs, while the teams played UNDER the posted over/under (6) set by oddsmakers.
Marc-Andre Bergeron and Dominic Moore scored for the Canadiens.
Pascal Dupuis scored at 9:56 of overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 win over the Senators to win the first-round series last time out. The Penguins won that game as -175 favorites, and the seven goals made it OVER the posted over/under (5.5).
Matt Cooke scored a pair in regulation for the Pens, and Bill Guerin added the other marker.
Team records:
Montreal: 39-33-10
Pittsburgh: 47-28-7
Montreal most recently:
When playing on Friday are 3-7
Before playing Pittsburgh are 4-6
After playing Washington are 4-6
After a win are 6-4
Pittsburgh most recently:
When playing on Friday are 4-6
Before playing Ottawa are 7-3
After playing Ottawa are 8-2
After a win are 3-7
A few trends to consider:
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Montreal’s last 10 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Montreal’s last 9 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
Montreal is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Pittsburgh’s last 7 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Pittsburgh’s last 6 games at home
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Montreal
Pittsburgh is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Next up:
Pittsburgh home to Montreal, Sunday, May 2
<a href=”http://www.betjmaff.com/aw.aspx?B=212&A=373&Task=Click&SubAffiliateID=n507″ target=”_Top”><img src=”http://www.betjmaff.com/aw.aspx?B=212&A=373&Task=Get&SubAffiliateID=n507″ border=”0″ alt=”BetJamaica MLB” width=”508″ height=”60″ /></a>
