Montreal at Carolina

Carolina is home, but they have lost three in a row and are flawed in so many areas. They are ranked #28 in goals scored, #30 on the power play, #24 in goals allowed and #29 in penalty killing. Carolina has been outscored 13-5 the last three games and into town comes mighty Montreal. The Hurricanes are 8-20 against the Eastern Conference. Montreal is loaded everywhere, second in goals scored, third in goals allowed with top five specialty units. The Canadiens come off a showdown loss with the Capitals, 3-2, even though in most areas of the game they dominated. The Canadiens outshot the visitors 35-19 but also had 26 shots blocked and another 12 were off target, which means the Canadiens took 73 shots. The Canadiens also won 57 percent of the faceoffs and had the edge in turnovers. Montreal has outscored Carolina 18-3 while winning the last five meetings and are 8-0-1 in the series since 2013. Max Pacioretty has seven goals and five assists in his last seven matchups. The Canadiens are 16-6 against a team with a losing record swept the season series last year by scores of 4-0, 3-1 and 4-1. Take Montreal.