Montreal Canadiens vs Dallas Stars Prediction, 1/2/2024 NHL Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Montreal Canadiens vs Dallas Stars

Date: Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

TV: Bally Sports Southwest

Odds/Point Spread: Canadiens (+220) Stars (-278)

The Dallas Stars (22-9-4) welcome the Montreal Canadiens (15-16-5) at American Airlines Center on Tuesday. The moneyline on this game has Montreal at +220 and Dallas is at -278. The total comes in at 7.

The Montreal Canadiens will look to clean up some issues after taking a 4-3 loss to the Lightning in their previous game. Montreal accounted for 13 penalty mins for this contest. The Canadiens offense showed they have some room for improvement in the defeat. Moreover, they had 1 power play chance but didn't net one. While out there on the ice, they converted 3 out of the 30 shots they put on net.

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When talking about their scoring capabilities, the Montreal Canadiens have notched 99 goals (27th in the league) for the season and have allowed 122. For the year, they have earned 35 points and their points % is .486. Montreal comes into tonight with 126 power play opportunities and they have notched 23 goals out of those tries, garnering them a percentage of 18.25%. When at even strength, the Canadiens have surrendered 88 goals while getting 76 on offense. Montreal has tried 1,035 shots and is the owner of a shooting percentage of 9.6%. The Canadiens have seen 1,186 shots taken against them and have a save percentage of .897. Montreal Canadiens opponents have earned 124 power play opportunities (7th in the NHL) and have earned 34 goals in those chances.

The man protecting the net in this game is Sam Montembeault. Montembeault has participated in 119 matchups during his pro hockey career. He has amassed a win-loss mark of 40-50-15 and he was named the starter in 103 games. Opponents have tallied 371 goals against Montembeault in his pro career and his goals against rate is 3.41. Montembeault has had 3,590 shots against him and has garnered 3,219 saves. He has a save percentage of .897 during his 6,530 minutes in the crease. During his career on the ice, Montembeault has tallied 50 quality starts and his quality starts percentage is .485.

When they took the ice last, Dallas opposed the Blackhawks in a matchup where the Stars ended up with the win by a score of 8-1. The Stars netted 8 goals of the 41 shots on goal they were seeking. They had 3 opportunities on the power play in this game and recorded 1 out of those attempts.

For the year, the Dallas Stars have a total of 126 goals, 48 points, in addition to a points percentage of .686. They have permitted 106 goals to be scored by way of 90 goals at even strength and 16 goals while they were shorthanded. The Stars have accumulated 103 goals at even strength and 23 goals (14th in pro hockey) while having a power play advantage. They have a tally of 103 opportunities on the power play and they have a power play rate of 22.33%. Dallas has taken 1,069 shots (23rd in professional hockey) and has a shot percentage of 11.79%, while allowing the opposition 1,065 shots. They have earned a penalty kill percentage of 85.84% on the other teams 113 power play tries, and their save percentage is 90.0%.

Across the rink you are going to see Scott Wedgewood between the pipes. Wedgewood has accumulated a lifetime mark of 43-43-19 and has been in net for 113 games. Wedgewood's quality start percentage is 49.0% and he has accumulated 49 quality starts in his career. He has gathered 3,127 stops out of 3,446 shots tried, which gives him a save % of .907. His opposition is averaging 3.01 goals/game and he has relinquished 319 goals overall. He has been a starter 100 contests and has been on the ice for 6,361 minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread or moneyline?

Josh's Pick: Take Dallas (-278)

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