Bruins vs. Canadiens prediction: NHL odds, picks Thursday, Apr. 13
The 2022-23 NHL regular season will wrap up officially on Friday, but Thursday is the last busy night of the campaign before the playoffs start on Monday.
With 15 contests on the docket, there are plenty of ways bettors can attack the board, but one price really jumps out.
Bruins vs. Canadiens prediction
(7 p.m. ET. ESPN+)
The Boston Bruins have rewritten the record books in 2022-23.
Boston is 64-12-5 through 81 games and have already set the all-time NHL records for most wins and points in a single season.
There is nothing left for the B’s to accomplish in the regular season.
Thus, it would make a lot of sense that the Bruins will rest a lot of their veteran stars like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pasrrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Hampus Lindholm.
There’s no reason to risk injury in a meaningless curtain-closer for the B’s, especially on the road against one of your rivals.
Even with their stars resting, the Bruins are deserving of their status as huge favorites against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
Not only are the Habs 65 points behind the B’s in the standings, but they played on Long Island on Wednesday night and are icing a depleted lineup thanks to a myriad of injuries — especially to the team’s already weak defense.
Nothing in the numbers will suggest that the Canadiens have a great chance of winning this game.
Boston has been dominant, wire-to-wire, and Montreal is, frankly, terrible.
The Habs were not supposed to contend this season, but things have been especially bad for them down the stretch.
The Canadiens are 5-14-2 with a -25 goal difference since the beginning of March and the Habs have just one win in their last six games.
But what you can count on from Montreal is an honest effort.
The Habs are playing at home against the best team in the salary cap era, so they’ll want to give their fans (and themselves) something to cling to as they head into a long offseason.
Betting on the NHL?
This is a young team with significant flaws, but they have some offensive upside and a goalie has been solid behind a very leaky defense.
It’s a best practice in betting to let the metrics guide you to your decision almost every time you step to the window, but there are some outliers.
This is one of those instances where the situational spot calls for some old-fashioned handicapping.
And what better way to close out the regular season than betting on one of the worst teams in the NHL to upset the best team in this era?
