More misery for the Montreal Canadiens
More misery for the Montreal Canadiens
Could things get any worse for the Canadiens, their backers and their fans? Montreal will now have to make a go at it without Mathieu Schneider for the rest of the season and Andrei Markov for a few weeks after the defensive duo suffered injuries last Saturday in a win over the Maple Leafs. The Habs have two more regular season games to go and hold a slim lead over the Rangers in the 7-slot of the Eastern Conference.
Supporters of the Montreal Canadiens have seen this movie before.
A bad season got worse for the Canadiens on Monday when they lost their top two defensemen: Mathieu Schneider (shoulder) for the rest of the season and Andrei Markov (left knee) for the next three weeks. Markov was tied with Alexei Kovalev for the team lead with 64 points; Schneider has 16 points in 21 games – 13 points on the power play – since coming over from Atlanta in a trade.
Even premium offensive defensemen like Markov and Schneider tend to get overlooked by the betting public, but the impact of their absence was obvious in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers (-180) at Madison Square Garden. Montreal’s decimated blueline (Francis Bouillon is still out with a groin injury) allowed 44 shots and the power play went 0-for-3 with Roman Hamrlik and Patrice Brisebois manning the point. They were also 0-for-3 the night before in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Ottawa Senators (+143) during their first game without Markov and Schneider.
There is a glimmer of hope for Habs fans. Schneider traveled with the team to New York, fueling speculation that he might not require the season-ending surgery reported in Monday’s papers. And with just two games left to go before the postseason, Montreal remained a point ahead of the Rangers for seventh place in the East and three points up on the No. 9 Florida Panthers. But the Habs have a pair of tough matchups to close out the campaign: Thursday at first-place Boston, then Saturday at home against the Penguins. There will be no breathing easy in La Belle Province this week.
At press time, Montreal was 25-1 on the Stanley Cup futures market, the longest betting odds of the current Top 8 in the East. New York was 22-1.
Nashville at Detroit
The 51-19-9 Red Wings (28-51 ATS, minus-12.71 units) remain the Cup favorites at 3-1 despite sitting in second place in the Western Conference, four points behind San Jose at 7-2 odds. Each team has three games left to play, so Detroit still has a shot at the top seed. Times are more desperate in Nashville, where the 39-33-8 Predators (41-39 ATS, minus-3.5 units) are in ninth place, two points behind Anaheim and St. Louis with two games to go for all involved.
The Preds are trying to scrape their way into the postseason without two of their major contributors: center David Legwand (cheekbone) and winger Martin Erat (leg). They have 37 goals between the two of them on a team that sits No. 24 in the league with 198 goals, or 2.51 per game. Detroit, in stark contrast, is first in scoring at 3.59 goals per game. The Red Wings have four players with at least 30 goals apiece, led by Marian Hossa’s 40. Nashville’s top scorer is Jason Arnott with 29.
Picking Detroit may look like a no-brainer, but it would have cost you 3.15 units last week. The Predators skated into Joe Louis Arena on Mar. 29 and left with a 4-3 victory, as Chris Osgood (.887 save percentage) continued his lurch to the playoffs. Pekka Rinne (.921 SV%) got the win for Nashville; he’s started the last 12 games in a row at 6-3-3 to improve to 28-13-4 in his rookie campaign. The difference between the two goalies and their teams can be seen against the total. The over is 45-34 for Detroit and 34-46 for Nashville.
Rinne and the Preds (+135 at home) also beat the Wings 8-0 back on Feb. 28 with Ty Conklin (.910 SV%) between the pipes for Detroit. They split a pair of games earlier in the year. Detroit is expected to have key defenseman Brian Rafalski (57 points in 75 games) back in the lineup after missing a week with a groin injury. Fellow blueliner Andreas Lilja is still out due to a concussion.
Could things get any worse for the Canadiens, their backers and their fans? Montreal will now have to make a go at it without Mathieu Schneider for the rest of the season and Andrei Markov for a few weeks after the defensive duo suffered injuries last Saturday in a win over the Maple Leafs. The Habs have two more regular season games to go and hold a slim lead over the Rangers in the 7-slot of the Eastern Conference.
Supporters of the Montreal Canadiens have seen this movie before.
A bad season got worse for the Canadiens on Monday when they lost their top two defensemen: Mathieu Schneider (shoulder) for the rest of the season and Andrei Markov (left knee) for the next three weeks. Markov was tied with Alexei Kovalev for the team lead with 64 points; Schneider has 16 points in 21 games – 13 points on the power play – since coming over from Atlanta in a trade.
Even premium offensive defensemen like Markov and Schneider tend to get overlooked by the betting public, but the impact of their absence was obvious in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers (-180) at Madison Square Garden. Montreal’s decimated blueline (Francis Bouillon is still out with a groin injury) allowed 44 shots and the power play went 0-for-3 with Roman Hamrlik and Patrice Brisebois manning the point. They were also 0-for-3 the night before in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Ottawa Senators (+143) during their first game without Markov and Schneider.
There is a glimmer of hope for Habs fans. Schneider traveled with the team to New York, fueling speculation that he might not require the season-ending surgery reported in Monday’s papers. And with just two games left to go before the postseason, Montreal remained a point ahead of the Rangers for seventh place in the East and three points up on the No. 9 Florida Panthers. But the Habs have a pair of tough matchups to close out the campaign: Thursday at first-place Boston, then Saturday at home against the Penguins. There will be no breathing easy in La Belle Province this week.
At press time, Montreal was 25-1 on the Stanley Cup futures market, the longest betting odds of the current Top 8 in the East. New York was 22-1.
Nashville at Detroit
The 51-19-9 Red Wings (28-51 ATS, minus-12.71 units) remain the Cup favorites at 3-1 despite sitting in second place in the Western Conference, four points behind San Jose at 7-2 odds. Each team has three games left to play, so Detroit still has a shot at the top seed. Times are more desperate in Nashville, where the 39-33-8 Predators (41-39 ATS, minus-3.5 units) are in ninth place, two points behind Anaheim and St. Louis with two games to go for all involved.
The Preds are trying to scrape their way into the postseason without two of their major contributors: center David Legwand (cheekbone) and winger Martin Erat (leg). They have 37 goals between the two of them on a team that sits No. 24 in the league with 198 goals, or 2.51 per game. Detroit, in stark contrast, is first in scoring at 3.59 goals per game. The Red Wings have four players with at least 30 goals apiece, led by Marian Hossa’s 40. Nashville’s top scorer is Jason Arnott with 29.
Picking Detroit may look like a no-brainer, but it would have cost you 3.15 units last week. The Predators skated into Joe Louis Arena on Mar. 29 and left with a 4-3 victory, as Chris Osgood (.887 save percentage) continued his lurch to the playoffs. Pekka Rinne (.921 SV%) got the win for Nashville; he’s started the last 12 games in a row at 6-3-3 to improve to 28-13-4 in his rookie campaign. The difference between the two goalies and their teams can be seen against the total. The over is 45-34 for Detroit and 34-46 for Nashville.
Rinne and the Preds (+135 at home) also beat the Wings 8-0 back on Feb. 28 with Ty Conklin (.910 SV%) between the pipes for Detroit. They split a pair of games earlier in the year. Detroit is expected to have key defenseman Brian Rafalski (57 points in 75 games) back in the lineup after missing a week with a groin injury. Fellow blueliner Andreas Lilja is still out due to a concussion.
