Analysis: Montreal - Winnipeg

A meeting of teams which are the biggest disappointment and sensation of this season – this is how the match at Bell Center between Montreal and Winnipeg is being awaited for.

Classification and team condition:
The Canadiens from Montreal have 35 points what gives them the far away 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Winnipeg Jets present themselves better since with their 43 points they take the 8th place which guarantees advance into the play-off stage.

Potential and team situation:
Jacques Martin is not Montreal Canadiens’ coach anymore because of a fatal performance of the team, he was fired in December and Randy Cunneyworth came to take his place. A pessimistic atmosphere prevails in Montreal taking into consideration the bad condition of the Canadiens, awful play of the defense and goalkeepers and also a series of injuries of the main players (Gomez, Gionta, Engqvist, Fortier, Nash, Markov, White). The goalkeeper Carey Price has been regularly hissed off at Bell Center and only Cole, Pacioretty and Kostitsyn can boast a solid balance of scored pucks. If at all they can boast of anything.
The situation in the guests’ team is a bit better. The popular Jets unexpectedly started to play brilliantly after an unsuccessful start of the season. At the beginning of the season Claude Noela’s team could be said standing at the starting line if compared with an airplane, but after magnificent performances in December it can be said flying up high. Winnipeg has the most active public in the league comparing with Montreal and Sun Jose, which supports its club almost in all matches at MTS Center. Jets are in for a very difficult match at Bell Center because of an injury of the main forward Bryan Little and the best assistant Dustin Byfuglien.

History of meetings:
This season Jets and Canadiens have already met twice. The first match was a confident win of Montreal (1:5) but 10 days later Jets rehabilitated and won with the score 4:0.

Tips and grounds:
Huge problems in the lineup and especially among the players being responsible for attacks in both teams have convinced us for a bet on under 5.5. Winnipeg has been showing a perfect play lately and the key for success can be the excellent defense. Attention should be paid to the fact that Jets conceded only 5 pucks in 5 previous matches. The defense of the Canadiens is one of the weakest in the whole NHL but at their own arena they concede only 2.95 pucks a match in average.