Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs same-game parlay predictions: Bet on Tavares and the over

The Toronto Maple Leafs start the 2023-24 season against a familiar foe.

The pregame narrative: The Montreal Canadiens are Toronto's season-opening opponent for the fourth consecutive season. These games have a real tendency to be close, so we're teasing up Montreal as a puck-line underdog. John Tavares is in prime position to notch a point as a top-six forward and a member of the top power play. Thirdly, the over is a wise wager with back end question marks for both teams.

NHL oddsas of 9:10 a.m. on 10/11/2023.

Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs same-game parlay

Parlay: Canadiens +2.5 + Tavares to score 1+ point + Over 5.5 goals (+270)

Canadiens +2.5 (-186): Toronto routed Montreal by a combined score of 12-2 across their last two meetings, but that was only after the Habs took the first two.

That includes a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs in last season's opener. Close games between these two to begin a campaign is a full-blown trend by this point, as each of the last four has been a one-score game with both teams winning two apiece.

The Leafs had the seventh-worst puck line record in the NHL last year (42-51) while the Canadiens had the 10th-best (44-38), per Statmuse. Adding an extra goal to this wager only helps.

Other parlay picks

Tavares to score 1+ point (-205): Tavares is the most reasonably-priced player to record a point among Toronto's top power-play members.

William Nylander (-250) is a little rich for our liking while Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner (-530) are a lot richer.

Tavares had 80 points in 80 games with four points in four outings against Montreal. He had two points in last year's opener and is a pretty solid pick to be involved offensively.

Over 5.5 goals (-215): Neither team should have a difficult time scoring.

While Toronto's offence received plenty of reinforcements, the defence didn't. John Klingberg was added to the rearguard group but he doesn't figure to be much of a plus in his own zone.

There are also some goaltending concerns with Ilya Samsonov getting hurt in the preseason and not playing all that well.

The Canadiens aren't in much better shape with an underwhelming collection of defencemen. They allowed the fourth-most goals per game (3.72) last season.