NHL Picks: Montreal Canadians vs Ottawa Senators

Saturday, 09 February 2008

The Montreal Canadians travel tonight in NHL Picks action to take on their rival Ottawa Senators ranked as the #6 team in the NHL at a record of 29-17-0-9 and 67 points. This will be the Canadians first game of a three game road trip after playing four in a row at home. The Canadians hope to get back on track tonight as they are coming off a loss and have lost two of their last three. Montreal hasn’t had much trouble scoring this season as they rank 4^th in that department as well scoring an average of 3.12 goals per game. While the Canadians are usually known for their defense it hasn’t been their strongest point as they rank only 15^th in the league. After starting the season ranked a lowly 24^thon the power play they have made huge improvements as they know stand 2^nd in the league scoring on 25% of their chances. It appears though that the Canadians might continue their losing streak as BetOnline.com has them listed as a +160 underdog on the money line and +1.5/-195 on the puck line.

Last season the Ottawa Senators were arguably the best NHL Picks team in hockey. Known as a soft team for the most part the Senators reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history but got knocked out in five games by the Anaheim Ducks. This season they come into this one rolling through their schedule sporting an impressive 33-18-0-4 mark and rank 3^rd overall in the NHL in total points. Certainly there was concern that they would be affected by last season’s disappointment but you couldn’t tell it by the way they are scoring as they lead the league lead averaging 3.42 goals per game. They have slipped on the defensive end of the game as earlier in the season they ranked 9^th but are now rank only 23^rd allowing 2.91 goals per game.

Ottawa would seem to have everything on their side tonight in NHL Picks but Montreal comes in a perfect 6-0 ATS in road games after a loss by 2 goals or more in their previous game this season. However, Montreal doesn’t seem to play well when going through a number of games in a short period of time as they are only 9-15 ATS when playing their 3rd game in 5 days this season.

Michael Alexander has been handicapping sports for over 20 years and is locked in on GUARANTEED selections for tonight's action. Visit Michael at Alexandersports for all of your winning action.

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