NHL LONG SHEET
Monday, April 21
BOSTON (44-31-0-13, 101 pts.) at MONTREAL (50-27-0-11, 111 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
MONTREAL is 23-7 (+13.7 Units) against the spread versus BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
MONTREAL is 23-7-0 straight up against BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
14 of 27 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+0.2 Units)
WASHINGTON (45-33-0-9, 99 pts.) at PHILADELPHIA (45-31-0-11, 101 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
WASHINGTON is 9-8 (+2.0 Units) against the spread versus PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
WASHINGTON is 9-8-0 straight up against PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
12 of 17 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+6.6 Units)
2008 NHL playoffs
Opening Round
Bruins, Canadiens are playing in a Game 7 for 7th time, with the Canadiens 4-2 in first six, 1-2 in last three. For once, momentum sits with B's, who won last two games to even series against a rival they had lost to 11 times in row prior to this series. Bruins scored four goals in third period in each of last two games, so their young players still have fresh legs. Pressure on Habs.
Washington forced Game 6 with 3-2 win in Game, 5, when they outshot Flyers 20-11 in first two periods, then withstood Flyers putting 21 pucks on goal in third period, scoring just once over last 20:00. Over is 12-5 in last 17 series games. Caps had won its last four games at Philly before losing twice in this series. The home team won last three series games, after losing five of the previous six games.
NHL Trend Sheet
7:00 PM BOSTON vs. MONTREAL
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Boston's last 21 games
Boston is 3-14 SU in its last 17 games when playing Montreal
Montreal is 14-3 SU in its last 17 games when playing Boston
Montreal is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games when playing at home against Boston
7:00 PM WASHINGTON vs. PHILADELPHIA
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games when playing Philadelphia
Washington is 13-4 SU in its last 17 games
Philadelphia is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Philadelphia's last 14 games at home
Monday NHL Gameday
The Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers will both be looking to advance to the second round of the playoffs with victories on Monday. Here is your NHL Gameday:
Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens
The Bruins looked dead in the water when they fell 1-0 to the Habs in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series last Tuesday; that defeat put Boston in a 3-1 series hole as the teams headed to raucous Montreal for Game 5. However, the Bruins rolled to a 5-1 victory in that contest, scoring four goals on rookie netminder Carey Price in the third period to grab the win and send the series back down to Boston for Game 6.
That Game 6 was held on Saturday night, and even though the Bruins were coming off a big win they were still sitting on the brink of elimination. And Montreal got some reinforcements for that contest, as Mark Streit, Francis Bouillon, and captain Saku Koivu all returned from their injuries. In fact, Koivu set up Chris Higgins for the game's first goal midway through the first frame and Montreal took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
The second period saw Phil Kessel and Tomas Plekanec trade goals, which had the Habs leading 2-1 going in the third period. That's where things got wild, as the two teams combined for six goals in 20 minutes. The most important marker, though, was the one scored by Marco Sturm with just over two minutes remaining in the game - that gave the Bruins a 5-4 win and a chance to steal this series with a Game 7 win on Monday.
Price allowed four goals in the third period for the second straight game on Saturday, and overall he stopped just 31 of the 36 Boston shots in that contest. Tim Thomas gave up four goals on 35 shots between the pipes for the Bruins. Kessel and Higgins had two goals apiece for their respective teams, while Koivu picked up two assists in his return to the lineup. Bruins blueliner Aaron Ward also returned from his injury in that contest.
Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers were looking to knock their first-round opponent out of the playoffs with a win on Saturday as well. Philadelphia lost Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Washington Capitals by a score of 5-4, but from there they rattled off three consecutive victories to hold a 3-1 series lead heading into Game 5 on Saturday.
That meant Philadelphia just had to hold off Alex Ovechkin and company for 60 more minutes to advance to the second round. However, the Caps got the jump on Philly with a first-period goal by Nicklas Backstrom, and they extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal by Sergei Fedorov early in the second period. Vaclav Prospal drew the Flyers to within one with a power-play goal midway through the second, but Alexander Semin restored Washington's two-goal advantage with his marker on the power play in the third period.
Derian Hatcher replied for Philadelphia shortly after Semin scored, but that was as close as the Flyers could get in the 3-2 road defeat. Cristobal Huet stopped 30 of 32 Philly shots between the pipes for Washington, while Flyers netminder Martin Biron gave up three goals on 26 shots in the loss. Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet entirely, and he has just one goal and five points for the Capitals over five postseason games so far.
The Capitals will now get a chance to tie up the series with a win on the road in Game 6 on Monday night. If they do manage to pull off that victory the two teams will head back to Washington for Game 7 - that deciding game is scheduled to be played on Tuesday.