Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins Prediction: Penguins to achieve third win

On October 18, 2022, the Bell Center will host another NHL regular season game. Local Montreal Canadiens will take on Pittsburgh Penguins at 02:00 (UTC+3).

Montreal is a team that is going through a deep crisis right now. The season before last the Canadiens played in the Stanley Cup Finals, but now they have been hopeless NHL outsiders for the second year in a row. Last season, they finished last in the Eastern Conference standings with a solid gap to their nearest rival. There was some chance that they would solve their problems over the summer, but in the preseason they lost all eight control games. In the new regular season, Martin St. Louis' men started with a 4-3 victory over Toronto, but then lost to Detroit and Washington, 0-3 and 1-3, respectively.

Pittsburgh is one of the most enigmatic teams in the NHL at the moment. The Penguins still have such players as Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, capable of playing at the elite level, but because of their solid financial demands the management cannot sign other skillful players. That's why the Yellow and Blacks are in a crisis, which prevents them from success in the playoffs. Nevertheless, they started the current regular season very well, having beaten Arizona and Tampa Bay with the same score of 6-2. If the leaders continue to play as productively, the Pennsylvanians have a chance to succeed.

Montreal and Pittsburgh are teams in very different states right now. If the Canadiens over the last year turned into a hopeless NHL outsider in need of a personnel change, the Penguins are making one of their last attempts to interfere in the battle for the Stanley Cup, and they need a good regular season to do that. In the two initial meetings of the current season, the Pennsylvanians looked great, and now they have every chance to win, yet the level of the opponent is noticeably lower. You can bet on Pittsburgh to win for about 1.70.

The confrontation between Montreal and Pittsburgh has never been very principled, but lately, the rivals began to show high-scoring matches time after time, smashing each other. In the three previous three head-to-head encounters, the opponents combined 22 goals (7.33 average per game), which is very respectable even in the NHL. In this upcoming match, we have a good chance to see a goal-rich battle, and we will opt for Total Over 6.5 pucks at odds close to 1.65.

Sidney Crosby is an experienced forward who turned 35 years old this offseason. Many hockey players of this age are done with their careers, but the legendary Canadian is still in great shape and wants to interfere in the fight for the next Stanley Cup. Pittsburgh captain has already scored 6 points (2 goals + 4 assists) in two starting regular season games and collected 3 points in each game. In such a situation it is worth to pay more attention to bet on his Total Over (1.5) points with the odds about 2.60.

Our prediction: Pittsburgh will win at odds of 1.718 at 1xbet.

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