Montreal Canadiens at Vancouver Canucks – 1/21/21 NHL Picks and Prediction

The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks meet Thursday in NHL action at the Rogers Arena.

The Montreal Canadiens look for a win here to build on their 2-0-2 record. The Montreal Canadiens are averaging 4.5 goals per game and are scoring on 60 percent of their power play opportunities. Tomas Tater leads Montreal with three goals, Jonathan Drouin has three assists and Josh Anderson has 13 shots on goal. Defensively, the Montreal Canadiens are allowing three goals per game and are killing 71.4 percent of their opponents power plays. Carey Price has given up six goals on 69 shots faced and Jake Allen has given up one goal on 26 shots.

The Vancouver Canucks look for a win here to build on their 2-3 record. The Vancouver Canucks are averaging 2.3 goals per game and are scoring on zero percent of their power play opportunities. Brock Boeser leads Vancouver with two goals, Quinn Hughes has three assists and Bo Horvat has 12 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vancouver Canucks are allowing 3.7 goals per game and are killing 64.3 percent of their opponents power plays. Braden Holtby has given up six goals on 66 shots faced while Thatcher Demko has given up nine goals on 77 shots.

The Canadiens are 4-1 in their last 5 road games. The Canucks are 9-23 in their last 32 games playing on 0 days rest and 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The under is 7-2-1 in Canadiens last 10 overall. The over is 9-4-1 in Canucks last 14 Thursday games. The Canadiens are 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Vancouver and 16-5 in the last 21 meetings. The road team is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings. The favorite is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.

The Montreal Canadiens are probably the better team here and have had their way with the Canucks over the years, but last nights win over Vancouver has to be a shot in the arm for the confidence. The Vancouver Canucks refused to lay down in last nights victory and had an answer every time the Habs scored, and then they went on to win in a shootout. On the end of a back to back, the Canucks have to be feeling good about their chances. I’ll back them at home.