The canadiens vs hurricanes matchup returns Friday with Carolina one win from the Stanley Cup Final and Montreal facing elimination in Game 5 at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes evened the series momentum after a 6-2 loss in the opener by winning a pair of 3-2 overtime games and then posting a 4-0 victory Wednesday, leaving Carolina on the brink of its first Final since 2006 when the club beat the Edmonton Oilers for its only NHL title.
Montreal has twice survived elimination games earlier in the postseason, but teams trailing 3-1 in conference semifinals or finals are 1-72 in NHL history, with the 2000 New Jersey Devils over the Philadelphia Flyers reported as the lone outlier.
Bookmakers list Carolina as a -250 favorite while Montreal sits at +205, and the game carries a 5.5 over/under for total goals, as shown in the latest NHL odds for the series.
Model Projections Reactions And Player Notes
The SportsLine Projection Model produced a slight lean to the Over 5.5 goals but its 10,000-game simulation gives Montreal a roughly 45 percent chance to win Game 5, which the model says offers value against the implied sportsbook probability near 33 percent.
Sports writers reported that Montreal has been limited to 18 shots or fewer in each of the last three games, and Carolina registered 44 shots in Wednesday's shutout, while the two clubs combined to allow just 43 shots on goal for Montreal across those three games, a team record.
Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake acknowledged the stakes and urged focus on the present, saying via Walt Ruff on X you "have to focus on tonight and know what we did the last three games to be successful in those," and he added that the locker room is excited to play.
Blake's regular season totals were reported at 22 goals and 31 assists and he has four goals with nine assists in the playoffs so far, figures noted alongside broader betting coverage that also included SportsLine picks for other events.
Those other picks included a Dodgers lean at -120 against the Phillies and an NBA Game 7 recommendation of Spurs +4.5 against the Thunder, items offered as part of the same daily best bets package.
