The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens are separated by just a single point in the Atlantic Division standings, but it’s the visiting Maple Leafs who are listed as betting favourites on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for Saturday night as they hit the ice for a marquee matchup between the rivals at the Bell Centre.
Toronto is listed as a -125 betting favourite (wager $125 to win $100) with Montreal returning odds of +105 (wager $100 to win $105) with the teams set for a 7 p.m. ET puck drop. This is the first meeting between the teams since their season-opening matchup on October 3, which Toronto won 3-2 in overtime as -240 betting favourites. Auston Matthews had the OT winner.
Heading into their second meeting the Maple Leafs at 69 points are one point up on the Canadiens in the division standings, with both teams well behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning at 82 points and just ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins at 66 points.
The Maple Leafs won all four meetings with the Canadiens last season, putting them on a five-game winning streak in the matchup heading into Saturday night. Before that Montreal had won 14 games in a row against Toronto dating all the way back to March 2014, according to the OddsShark NHL Database.
Both teams head into the weekend on three-game winning streaks overall, with the Maple Leafs at 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and the Canadiens going 8-1-1 in that same time frame.
Hockey Day in Canada action gets underway at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday as the Winnipeg Jets play on the road at the Ottawa Senators as -165 betting favourites, while the Calgary Flames are listed as -140 betting favourites for their 10 p.m. ET puck drop against the Vancouver Canucks. The Edmonton Oilers host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday as +120 underdogs.
The Jets are coming off a 5-2 loss in Montreal on Thursday night and sit just one point up on the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division standings. Winnipeg has won each of its last four games against Ottawa, which has won just once in its last six games.
Calgary is two points up on the Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division standings, but the Flames fell 5-2 at home to San Jose as -140 betting favourites in their last game on Thursday night. The Flames and Canucks have already met three times this season, with the teams splitting a pair of matchups in early October and Vancouver winning 3-2 in Calgary in their most recent meeting on December 29. The OVER sits at 7-3 over their last 10 matchups.
Edmonton has lost five of its last six games against San Jose, with the OVER going 6-0. The Sharks thumped the Oilers 7-2 as -210 home favourites when they last met on Jan. 8.
[relatedlinks]
