Saturday picks: Canadiens go for nine in a row
Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks, where CBSSports.com hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz share their predictions for select games every day.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET
The Montreal Canadiens just keep on winning.
Thanks to their 7-2 blowout win in Buffalo on Friday night — with their backup goalie in net — the Canadiens continued their incredible start to the 2015-16 season by winning their eighth consecutive game, becoming just the sixth team to ever start a season 8-0. And now they return home to face their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a chance to add to their season-opening winning streak and continue to chase history.
The Canadiens are just two wins away from matching the longest winning streak to open a season in league history, a mark that is currenlty owned by the 1993-94 Maple Leafs and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres.
There’s probably nothing the Maple Leafs would love more at this point in the season than to hand the Canadiens their first loss of the season, especially in Montreal, but the Canadiens are just an unstoppable force at the moment. They enter Saturday first in the NHL in goals scored, goals against, are second in shots per game and at plus-21 have what is by far the best goal differential in hockey. Washington is second at plus-11, while only Dallas (plus-10) and Nashville (plus-10) are the only teams better than plus-six. They are, quite simply, the best team in hockey right now.
And on Saturday they’re going back to the best goalie in hockey after giving him the night off on Friday.
It’s just hard to imagine this Toronto team being able to keep up with all of that. The Maple Leafs haven’t been terrible so far this season, but they haven’t been particularly good, either. They have enough veterans that can play in the NHL that will allow them to stay close in a lot of games and look like they have a chance, but their complete lack of gamebreakers offensively will continue to hold them back. That’s a bad matchup against this Montreal team right now. Pick: Canadiens 5, Maple Leafs 2
The rest of Saturday’s picks
Anaheim Ducks 3, Minnesota Wild 2
Buffalo Sabres 4, New Jersey Devils 2
Ottawa Senators 4, Arizona Coyotes 1
New York Rangers 3, Philadelphia Flyers 1
St. Louis Blues 2, New York Islanders 1
Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Nashville Predators 2
Dallas Stars 5, Florida Panthers 3
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Chicago Blackhawks 3
Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Colorado Avalanche 2
Vancouver Canucks 4, Detroit Red Wings 2
San Jose Sharks 5, Carolina Hurricanes 2
The Montreal Canadiens go for their ninth consecutive win on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. (USATSI)
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