Montreal vs Winnipeg: The Canadiens will also win the third game of the North Division Finals

The Montreal hockey team began the North Division finals with two straight away wins over Winnipeg. Will Paul Maurice's team be able to avoid a third consecutive loss, bringing the intrigue back into the series? Our prediction: the Canadiens will be closer to victory again!

I can't believe how good Montreal is! All season long they have been trying to prove to the world that they are not a contender for the Stanley Cup, because even in the regular season they looked weak, and after four games in the series with Toronto, they even pretended to pack their bags to go on vacation. Each time, however, as soon as Dominique Ducharme's team made some progress, they found room to grow. That's why they still climbed into the playoffs, then passed the Maple Leafs, and now they're on pace to beat Winnipeg 2-0 in the series.

Winnipeg is another great team that decided to put their rivals to sleep before the start of the playoffs, having lost nine of 12 games at the end of the regular season. Just as the Cup campaign was about to begin, Paul Maurice's men beat Edmonton 4-0 in the series. It seemed that with such a game they would have no problems against Montreal, but in fact the situation was quite different. Already in the first game of the North Division Finals the Jets lost without much  chance, 3-5, and even lost due to the disqualification of Mark Scheifele who had decided to kill Jake Evans. In the second battle, there was a little more fight, but Winnipeg lost again, 0-1, and now goes to Montreal to save the series.

Winnipeg lost both home games, so now they need to look for internal reserves, but so far they only get losses in Mark Scheifele, who continues to serve his suspension, and he was the best scorer for the Jets in both the regular season and the playoffs. As soon as such a hockey player dropped out of the lineup, Paul Maurice's team immediately went a goalless game. But the Canadiens are on fire now, Carey Price is playing admirably and the current streak of five straight victories makes you think they'll fight for a trophy as well. As a result, we have to bet on a Montreal win at around 1.77 odds.

We should not expect a goal feast in the upcoming encounter. The course of the series suggests that the third game should not be a lot of productive accomplishments. The fact is that Montreal already leads the series 2-0, so they certainly have nowhere to rush, they can safely defend, especially with such a goalie. The situation for Winnipeg is much more dangerous, they need to go on the attack and save the series, but they were left without their offensive leader, in addition, there is a great risk to run into a counterattack, and they are close to flight from the playoffs, and will play away. Given this, the optimal variant for the forecast seems to be a total of fewer than 5.0 pucks at odds close to 3.05.

Tyler Toffoli is an accomplished hockey player who went through successful years with Los Angeles and is now playing outstanding hockey for Montreal. In the regular season, he scored 44 points (28 goals + 16 assists) in 52 games, and in nine playoff games, he's already managed seven points (3 goals + 4 assists), his best mark on the team. It is obvious that the 29-year-old hockey player is in great shape, so we can look at a bet on the total of more than 0.5 points by Tyler Toffoli at odds of about 2.70.