Montreal vs Dallas: The Stars will be stronger than the East's worst team

Montreal defeated Dallas in their first meeting of the season, 5-3. Will Rick Bowness's team get revenge in their upcoming clash? We predict that this time the Stars will be closer to success!

Montreal are a finalist in the last Stanley Cup, but the current regular season is going disastrously bad for them. From the beginning of the season, the Canadiens were plagued by injuries, with players languishing in the Covid-protocol, one defeat followed by another. All of this led to Dominique Ducharme's resignation as head coach, with Martin St. Louis taking over as the new helmsman. The Red and Blue enjoyed a five-game winning streak, but still lost four of their last seven games. Their poor first half of the regular season has kept Montreal in last place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Dallas are having a very tough regular season and is in danger of flying past the playoffs. By mid-January the Stars were in good shape and had a strong run, winning 14 of their 19 games, but they could not extend their winning streak. In their last three games, Rick Bowness's wards have lost to Nashville, the Rangers and Toronto by a combined score of 5-13, and on each occasion, they lost in regulation time. A string of poor games dropped the team from Texas to ninth in the Western Conference standings, but they still have a few games left to play against their direct rivals, but they still need to score.

Montreal and Dallas are teams that played in the last two Stanley Cup finals against Tampa Bay and have now slipped to the point where they are not in the cup eight of their conferences at all. In the meantime, the Canadiens are running out of chances to make the playoffs, as they failed in the regular season and finished last in the East, while the Stars are still in the game and have a good chance to return to the cup battles. The tournament motivation and a more powerful lineup allow the team from Texas to count on success, and to make a bet on the victory of Dallas is possible for 1.76.

Montreal are a team that no longer has any tournament goals, so can relax by playing bright and open hockey. The Canadiens have scored 59 goals (8.43 average per game) in their last seven meetings, which is a very respectable mark even by NHL standards. Dallas have also been spectacular in the past six games, posting 41 goals against (6.83 goals per game average). Moreover, their first game was also a blowout, 5-3, so the best option for betting is Total Over 6.5 pucks for 2.25.

Alexander Radulov is having the worst season of his overseas career. In 52 games in the current regular season, the Russian forward scored only 18 points (3 goals + 15 assists) which is an extremely modest figure for him. Nevertheless, there is now talk that the 35-year-old hockey player could be traded. This factor could provide extra motivation for the older player, so a bet on Alexander Radulov's Total Over 0.5 points for 5.00 is worth looking into.

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