Montreal Canadiens vs New York Rangers Prediction: The guests will be closer to victory

Prediction for the NHL match which will take place on January 7. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Montreal is the NHL outsider of all recent years, but the debut of the current regular season was very good for him. In the nine starting meetings, the Red-Blues only twice went scoreless, then declared their intention to compete for the playoffs. But then the results began to slip, and their situation worsened. At the juncture of December and January, the Canadiens continue to play very poorly: in the last five games, they have only one win over Dallas - 4:3, and in the four remaining meetings, they lost, and each time in regulation time. That's good enough for 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Despite a very strong roster, the Rangers have made the playoffs recently but have not made it far on the Stanley Cup. The reason for that is the low seeding that the Blueshirts received, and that's why they got very powerful opponents in the early stages. Peter Laviolette is the head coach of the New York team, and they have already started to fight for high places in the regular season. From the very first games, his wards began to actively collect points, settling in the group of leaders, which they are doing to this day. In the last ten games, the Rangers have seven wins and three losses, which puts them in first place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Rangers continue to lead the Eastern Conference standings with very good results over the distance. According to the results of the upcoming battle, they have every chance to strengthen on the first line, as the opponents will be Montreal, which is one of the outsiders in the league. In the last five games, the Canadian team scored only two points out of a possible ten, which shows their poor current form. In addition, the Bluejackets left behind the last five consecutive personal meetings on the ice of the Bell Center.

In the current regular season, the Rangers are far from always demonstrating bright and offensive hockey, but Peter Laviolette was able to establish things with the defense. Now, the New York team plays pragmatically, and the statistics can only get worse in the upcoming matchup. It's all about the fact that the Blueshirts often play a low-scoring game against Montreal: in the last six meetings, the rivals have combined to score only 30 goals (5.00 per game on average).