The Montreal Canadiens will make their long-awaited return to the Stanley Cup Final when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the series on Monday night as lengthy plus-170 road underdogs on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Montreal punched its ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 28 years by knocking off the heavily favoured Vegas Golden Knights in six games during the semifinals, and has now claimed victory in 11 of 13 games ahead of Monday night’s matchup at Amalie Arena.
The Canadiens have fuelled their unlikely run through this year’s playoffs by sticking to a defence-first game plan and seizing offensive opportunities when they present themselves. Goaltender Carey Price has been key to the club’s success. Price has seen his play steadily improve as the postseason has progressed, allowing two or fewer goals in 10 of his past 12 outings. That has enabled Montreal to put together an 11-0 run when scoring two or more goals so far in this postseason.
Despite his heroics, Price looks to his first Stanley Cup Final appearance trailing his Lightning counterpart Andrei Vasilevskiy on the Conn Smythe Trophy odds at online sports betting sites. Vasilevskiy has been equally dominant, with three of his four shutout wins coming in series-clinching contests. That has lifted him to a plus-125 favourite, just ahead of Price as a plus-175 bet.
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Now faced with the task of dethroning the battle-hardened defending Stanley Cup champions in their bid to claim their first title since 1993, the Canadiens also trail on the NHL playoff series prices. Montreal opens the series as plus-200 underdogs to raise the Cup, well back of the Lightning, who are set as minus-240 chalk to claim the third championship in franchise history.
Complicating matters for the Canadiens is a growing concern over the presence of COVID-19 in the team’s camp. Head coach Dominique Ducharme has been absent from the team for the past 10 days after testing positive, and worries have heightened with reports on Sunday that forward Joel Armia will not travel to Tampa Bay for Game 1 after being placed in COVID-19 protocol.
That represents a potentially big blow to a Canadiens team that has struggled in recent years against their Atlantic Division rivals, falling to defeat in 12 of their past 15 meetings, according to the OddsShark NHL Database. As for the Lightning, they expect to have forward Nikita Kucherov in the lineup in Game 1 on Monday night as they seek to extend a three-game home win streak during which they have outscored opponents by a 13-3 margin.
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