With goaltender Carey Price sidelined and a lengthy eight-game road trip fast approaching, the Montreal Canadiens have fallen back of the leaders on the odds to win the Stanley Cup at 10/1 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Canadiens continue to hold a nine-point lead over the Detroit Red Wings atop the Atlantic Division standings, but enter the second third of the NHL season with Price once again out of action after he aggravated a knee injury in last week’s 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
Price won 10 of his 12 starts before getting hurt, replaced by backup Mike Condon, who has played well in relief. However, with Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals the Habs have now lost two of their last four without Price, and are just 6-5 in the 11 games this season he has missed due to injury.
Montreal had climbed as high as 15/2 on the Stanley Cup odds, powered by a nine-game win streak to start the season, but now enter their toughest stretch of the campaign, with 10 of their next 14 on the road starting in Carolina on Saturday night.
Carolina is coming off a 5-1 loss to New Jersey on Thursday, ending a two-game win streak on home ice and extending their current overall losing streak to three games.
With just 20 points in 25 games, the Hurricanes join Columbus in the Metropolitan Division basement, and sit alongside the Toronto Maple Leafs as 200/1 longshots on the Stanley Cup betting lines.
Carolina has also struggled against the Canadiens, losers in their last five head-to-head, including their last two at home according to the OddsShark NHL Database.
The Capitals, meanwhile, pulled to within four points of the Habs in the Eastern Conference standings with their Thursday victory, cementing their position atop the Stanley Cup betting lines with 7/1 odds.
Washington is joined at 7/1 by the Western-leading Dallas Stars, and closely followed by the Rangers at 8/1, while the Chicago Blackhawks sit alongside the Canadiens at 10/1, and the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks round out the favourites at 12/1 and 14/1, respectively.
The Ottawa Senators are the only other Canadian team currently in playoff contention, 10 points back of Montreal, but they are deadlocked with the Winnipeg Jets, well back of the favourites at 40/1 on the Cup odds.
The Vancouver Canucks have not won consecutive games in over a month to fall to 50/1, but remain ahead of the Calgary Flames, who have surrendered the most goals of any team this season, and sit at 66/1, while the Edmonton Oilers hold steady at 150/1.
