Hurricanes Favored to Storm Past Canadiens
Carolina Heavy Fave According to Canadiens vs Hurricanes Preview
Carolina Favored to Make It Eight Wins in a Row Over Montreal
The Carolina Hurricanes have had a few extra days to recover after dropping its last game to Winnipeg as they welcome a Montreal team that needed overtime to edge Nashville the last time out. They are favored according to the Canadiens vs Hurricanes preview.
Carolina has won seven games in a row against Montreal and this will be the eighth meeting in a row that the Hurricanes are favored when facing the Canadiens. Six of the last seven games have been decided by multiple goals.
The NHL lines have Carolina priced at -294 to win the game outright making the Hurricanes the heaviest favorite among Thursday’s NHL contests. Carolina has -105 odds to cover against the puck line as 1.5-goal favorites.
When looking at the current NHL playoff bracket, Carolina would have home-ice advantage against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Montreal is closer to last place in the Eastern Conference than securing a postseason bid.
Carolina is fifth at +1000 in the odds of winning the Stanley Cup title. Montreal is well back at +50000 in the championship odds.
Keep on reading for more on the matchup between the Canadiens and the Hurricanes.
Montreal Canadiens vs Carolina Hurricanes 
Day/Time:
Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C.
Streaming: Bally Sports South, TSN2, ESPN+
Canadiens Are Working Overtime
When the calendar flipped from February to March, it did little to alter the trend of the Canadiens playing in tight affairs.
After splitting overtime games in the first two matchups in March, six of Montreal’s last eight games have been decided by one goal. It would have been seven out of eight if not for an empty-net goal by Nick Suzuki with three seconds left to play in a win over Arizona.
Twenty of Montreal’s losses this season have come by one goal. Keep that in mind when it comes to the Canadiens vs Hurricanes preview.
The total has gone over in four of Montreal’s last five games.
Goals Are Hard to Come By For Carolina
Carolina has gone 8-4-1 since the end of the NHL All-Star break and somehow lost four points in the standings to the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers.
Carolina has scored 10 goals in the last five losses and if not for the play of goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, things could look much different in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Despite having a 1.99 goals-against average during that stretch, Kochetkov is just 5-4 as Carolina has struggled to score goals.
The Hurricanes scored two goals or less 11 times in 12 games before Saturday’s 5-3 loss to Winnipeg. That is something to consider when it comes to the Canadiens vs Hurricanes preview.
The total landed under in five of Carolina’s last six games.
Last Meeting
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice in the final 6:09 to break a 3-3 tie as host Carolina topped Montreal 5-3 on Dec. 28 in the first matchup of the season between the teams.
It was Carolina’s 10th straight win at home against the Montreal Canadiens with just three of those games being decided by one goal.
It was the second straight time that a Montreal game at Carolina went over the total after six of the previous seven finished under.
Canadiens vs Hurricanes Betting Preview
With Carolina third in the NHL in points percentage since the start of January and Montreal 9-12-5 with a -20 goal differential during that stretch, it is not a surprise that the Hurricanes are such a strong favorite according to the odds.
Despite losing its last two games as a home favorite, Carolina is 9-5 outright in the last 14 games as the favorite at home. The Hurricanes have covered against the puck line in just five of those games. Montreal is 1-6-3 in its last 10 games as the road underdog and has covered in six of those contests.
Montreal continues to play without forwards Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Raphael Harvey-Pinard, and Colin White.
Carolina is without goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.
Carolina is 33-21-6 as a favorite this season while Montreal is 19-37-10 as the underdog.
The Canadiens have covered in 21 of 31 road games this season. Carolina is just 12-19 against the spread at home.
Montreal has seen 17 of its road games finish over the total including six of the last seven.
The Canadiens have dropped seven games in a row to Eastern Conference teams. Five of those losses have come by one goal.
Carolina is 8-1 in its last nine NHL matchups with Atlantic Division teams.
The total went under in six of Carolina’s last nine home games and eight of the last nine against Eastern Conference foes. The total is set at 6.5 by the NHL picks for this matchup.
Go with the Hurricanes to take care of business against a Montreal team with just 12 road wins this season.
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