- 1 Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Fowler’s six-game run against a Penguins team with one road win
- 2 Montreal Canadiens: Fowler at 1.54 and .942, with a power play ranked 29th
- 3 Pittsburgh Penguins: 4-1-0 at home, 1-5-1 everywhere else
- 4 Free NHL Prediction: Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Fowler’s six-game run against a Penguins team with one road win 
Nick Suzuki blocked a shot against San Jose on 20 October and hasn’t played since. The upper-body injury ended an ironman run of 546 straight regular-season games, and Montreal announced on 22 October that its captain would miss two to four weeks.
The Canadiens haven’t lost since. They won 4-1 in Chicago, 2-1 over Winnipeg at the Heritage Classic and 2-0 in St. Louis on Tuesday, and they went into Thursday’s game in Dallas at 7-3-2, second in the Atlantic.
Pittsburgh comes to the Bell Centre on Saturday, 31 October, with puck drop at 7:00pm ET. The Penguins went into Thursday’s home game against Utah at 5-6-1, sixth in the Metropolitan, and their road record is 1-5-1.
The teams have already met once this season. Pittsburgh won 6-5 in overtime on 3 October at PPG Paints Arena, with Novak scoring twice, the overtime winner included. Cole Caufield scored twice for Montreal that night, and Jakub Dobes allowed six goals on 30 shots.
Both teams play Thursday and neither plays Friday. Montreal flies home from Dallas after a late game; Pittsburgh makes the shorter trip from its own building. The third meeting is on 9 January in Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens: Fowler at 1.54 and .942, with a power play ranked 29th 
Jacob Fowler has won six straight starts. He’s 6-1-0 with a 1.54 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage, and his last two games were 34 saves against Winnipeg and a 45-save shutout in St. Louis, where the Blues outshot Montreal 46-20.
Montreal doesn’t control many games through possession, and it’s leaning on the goaltender. Dobes, the other option, is 1-2-2 with a 4.47 average and an .847 save percentage, and he was expected to start Thursday in Dallas, which points to Fowler on Saturday.
Caufield leads the team with 6 goals and 10 points, level on points with Lane Hutson, who has 7 assists. Suzuki’s 12 points in nine games are still the most on the roster. Juraj Slafkovsky has 8 points, and Bolduc 5 goals, including one in the St. Louis shutout.
The power play is the soft spot. Montreal converts 11.4% of its chances, 29th in the league, while the penalty kill is solid at 83.7%, 10th. The Canadiens win 52.4% of their faceoffs even without Suzuki taking draws.
The injury list goes beyond the captain. Ivan Demidov has been out with a lower-body injury since early October, and goaltender Sam Montembeault is on injured reserve after hurting his leg at practice on 7 October. Owen Beck was recalled on 22 October to cover at center.
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Pittsburgh Penguins: 4-1-0 at home, 1-5-1 everywhere else 
Pittsburgh’s season splits cleanly by building. The Penguins are 4-1-0 at home and 1-5-1 on the road, and the western trip earlier this month brought three defeats: 5-2 in Colorado, 6-2 in Vegas and 5-4 in Utah, on 16, 17 and 19 October.
They’ve won twice since coming home, 4-0 over Florida on 22 October and 3-2 in overtime over Nashville two nights later. Rickard Rakell tied the Nashville game with 1:06 left in regulation and Ville Koivunen won it in overtime.
Erik Karlsson leads the team with 12 points, 11 of them assists. Evgeni Malkin has 6 goals and 9 points in 11 games, Nick Robertson, acquired from Toronto on 1 July, has 6 goals, and Sidney Crosby has 7 points.
The availability list is long. Brazeau, van Riemsdyk, Graves and Rust were on injured reserve as of 28 October, and Samuel Girard went on IR on 24 October with an upper-body injury. Malkin missed the Nashville game with an illness, and Chinakhov missed two games with a lower-body problem; both were listed day-to-day.
Arturs Silovs is the number one. He’s 5-3-0 with a 2.87 goals-against average, a .890 save percentage and two shutouts. Sergei Murashov is 0-3-1 with a 3.50 average. Pittsburgh’s power play runs at 20.6% and its penalty kill at 83.9%, but it wins only 45.6% of faceoffs, 29th in the NHL.
Probable lineup Montreal Canadiens: Caufield, Newhook, Slafkovsky; Kreider, O. Kapanen, Anderson; Bolduc, Danault, Texier; F. Xhekaj, Evans, Dach. Defense: Hutson, Dobson; Guhle, Matheson; Engstrom, Carrier. Goalie: Fowler (not confirmed).
Probable lineup Pittsburgh Penguins: Novak, Crosby, Rakell; Chinakhov, Kindel, Malkin; Kuzmenko, Lapierre, Koivunen; Dewar, Lizotte, Robertson. Defense: Stastney, Karlsson; Carlile, Letang; Korczak. Goalie: Silovs (not confirmed).
Free NHL Prediction: Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins
Our prediction: Montreal Canadiens to win (1.67)
I’m backing Montreal at 1.67. The Canadiens have won three straight without Suzuki, Fowler is stopping 94.2% of the shots he faces, and Pittsburgh has won once in seven road games. The Penguins also arrive with Malkin, Chinakhov and Girard all uncertain.
I’m not convinced by Montreal’s underlying play, and that’s the honest case against this pick. Getting outshot 46-20 in St. Louis and winning is not a sustainable formula, and a 29th-ranked power play doesn’t give the Canadiens an easy way to put games away. Pittsburgh scored six on them in October.
That 6-5 game came in Pittsburgh, though, with Dobes in net. On Saturday the Penguins have to do it at the Bell Centre against Fowler, after a 1-5-1 start on the road. Early prices may move once goalies are confirmed.
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