Face-off: 1900 ET, 12/03/2022
Arena: Centre Bell
Montreal have looked more like the team which reached last season’s Stanley Cup final of late and are fancied to see off Seattle at Centre Bell.
The Kraken are never short of effort or endeavour going forward, but leaking goals has been a constant issue throughout their first campaign.
Let’s kick off our Montreal Canadiens vs Seattle Kraken predictions by taking 3.2 for a home win and over 5.5 total scores.
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Montreal Canadiens Odds
Montreal played their part in a cracking contest when going down 5-3 at Vancouver on Wednesday, when they were still in contention until conceding a last-minute empty netter.
Artturi Lehkonen bagged a brace and had an assist, while Rem Pitlick had a goal and helped to set up two others.
That gutsy performance followed a hot streak of seven wins in eight outings under new coach Martin St Louis.
“We’ve been playing really good hockey and I think we’re all very comfortable with our game and we all believe in each other,” said Pitlick.
“Marty has been talking about it from the beginning, swagger, and I think that we all understand that we can be a really good team.
“We are a really good team, so we’re going to keep pushing forward.”
Adopting such a positive attitude can leave the Canadiens open at the back, but 3.9 for a home win in regular time and both teams to score at least twice takes the eye from the NHL odds.
Seattle Kraken Odds
Seattle have gone four games without a win and have picked up just one victory in a dozen outings but almost always have their moments in matches.
Thursday’s 4-3 overtime defeat at Ottawa was a case in point, when they were 3-0 down nearly halfway through the third period but fought back to at least earn a point.
Jared McCann, Ryan Donato and Mason Appleton netted in quick succession to give the Senators an almighty scare.
“It’s important to be able to go out there and play hard for one another and fight and compete right until the very end,” commented coach Dave Hakstol.
“That’s really important. To build and execute on that momentum and have that period where everybody fed off of each other is important.”
Donato also hailed the character shown and the Kraken have now scored more than once in five consecutive fixtures, as well as in 18 of their last 20 contests.
Their exploits at the other end are not quite so noteworthy, though, so let’s add 13.0 for a 4-3 home win to our NHL predictions.
Additional stats
Last result:
Vancouver 5-3 MONTREAL
Ottawa 4-3 SEATTLE (OT)
Season head-to-head: Seattle 5-1 Montreal
