NHL Conference Finals
Golden Knights (-260) Vs Canadiens $$$
This series may be the biggest mismatch in the modern era of NHL conference finals.
For the second straight year the Montreal Canadiens have made the playoffs thanks entirely due to of a global flu pandemic. Let that sink in a minute. Last year they get invited to the playoff bubble despite their dismal regular season and 12th place conference positioning and promptly take care of the heavily favoured Penguins. This year, they are placed in a division where the the best opponent they faced the entire season were the slightly above average Maple Leafs and they got to play two of the worst teams in the league in OTT and VAN, 19 times out of 56 games. I can count at least eight teams in the remaining divisions that would have taken first place in the North this year. Even if they had been an even 8 team in this division instead of 7, the Canadiens would have found themselves out of the playoffs as their poor 24–32 record would not have made the cut.
Montreal got past the perennial playoff chokers in Toronto. In the second round, they avoid the two best players in the league out of Edmonton and somehow get the mediocre Jets instead who simply failed to show up. Now they have to face a Vegas team who will be the first quality team they have faced the entire season in the conference finals. They will be no way for MTL to prepare for the talent upgrade they are about to face tonight. The Knights are stacked with talent, depth, playoff experience, and in net they match up nicely with Fleury between the pipes.
The Canadiens have done well to get to this point and have a long history of over performing in the playoffs. They have ridden on the back of Carey Price to get them here but he simply is not going to be enough to get them past the Knights. Montreal still have tremendous difficulty consistently scoring goals which simply isn’t going to cut it against a team that can score in bunches.
Montreal also will have to face a hostile visitors crowd for the first time the entire season. As a funny side note, the Canadian government had to pass a special law that would allow the Knights to cross the boarder and play without the mandatory two week quarantine for the game on Friday. What a ridiculous joke that is.
I would be surprised if the Canadiens win a single game in this series, but maybe Price can steal one for the team, but that will be it. I picked the winner of the COL/VGK series to win the cup and I stand by that now.
NHL Playoffs 13–12