The New York Islanders fight off elimination and force a Game 7. Anthony Beauvillier was the hero for the Isles continuing to his great post season. We have another elimination game tonight where the Vegas Golden Knights look to even up the series at 3-3.
Vegas Golden Knights (-140) @ Montreal Canadians (+120)
Montreal went into Vegas last game and defeated the Golden Knights by a score of 4-1 to take a 3-2 series lead. The Canadians got out to an early lead and never looked back. Vegas tried to make it a game in the third but, Price took over and made some incredible saves. Carey Price played an outstanding game and finished with a +1.79 GSAx. Marc Andre Fleury started Game 5 for Vegas and struggled again in net finishing with a -0.50 GSAx.
One of the story lines that’s being overshadowed by the goaltending debate for Vegas, is their inability to score. One positive for Vegas’ offensive woes was the return of Chandler Stephenson. He played well providing a spark for Max Pacioretty who scored Vegas’ lone goal. In addition to Pacioretty’s struggles, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone has 0 points in this series so far. Pacioretty’s xGF% is 46.0% while Stone’s is even worse at 38.8%. The Habs have continued to find ways to shut teams down, while receiving offensive support from their young guns in Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Montreal will be sticking with Price in net as expected while the Knights have not confirmed their starter for tonight. From the initial reports, it looks as though Lehner will start in net for them. Lehner is coming off a great performance in Game 5 and will need to have a similar performance tonight to keep the Knight’s Stanley Cup dream alive.
The Habs are home dogs tonight which has been a constant theme for them all playoffs long. However, they have been highly profitable throughout the playoffs. The Golden Knights opened up at -135 but the line has shifted to -140 to even -150 on some books. For Game 6, I think this ends up being a low scoring game. Vegas knows they’ll need to slow down the pace and play defensive hockey if they want to have a chance to win this game. Price and Lehner have been great in their recent performances and I believe that trend will continue here. At + money, I think this line has some value given that no game has gone over 5 goals in this series.
Pick: Under 5.0, +110 (Risk 1.0 Unit)
