After a day off for Thanksgiving, the NHL fires things back up on Friday afternoon with the Montreal Canadiens (10-9-1) looking to build some consistency as they visit the struggling Chicago Blackhawks (6-10-3). Montreal has alternated wins and losses in their last four games, but should be able to get a second consecutive victory against a Hawks' team that has dropped five in a row.
Chicago is a surprising -120 favorite for this meeting from the United Center where they have gone 4-6-1 on the season. It's still going to be hard to place a wager on a Blackhawks club that has dropped 7 of their last 8 and have fallen into last place in the Central division. M ontreal has some value at +100 in this spot and they're a decent 4-4-1 on the road this season. The Canadiens picked up a 3-1 win at Columbus on Tuesday and have scored points in three of their last four away tilts.
It's not necessarily that Montreal has a good offense – they're 19th in scoring (3.0 goals/game) and only complete 15% of their power play opportunities – but Chicago's defense is that bad. The Blackhawks are giving up five goals/game during their five game slide.
What Montreal is really looking for on Friday afternoon is some consistency. They won three in a row earlier this month but overall are just 5-5-1 in November. Even so, the 10-9-1 start hasn't been bad for a Canadiens team that had the fewest points in the NHL last season (55).
Sam Montembeault started in net for the Canadiens on Tuesday with the team play ing on the back-to-back. He stopped 30 of 31 Columbus shots in the 3-1 road win but will likely give way to Jake Allen for Friday's game. Then again Craig Berube could go with the hot hand considering Allen has allowed 4+ goals in four straight starts and has a 4.26 GAA this month.