All eyes will be on what many believe is the biggest international showdown in decades, as Canada and USA battle in Montreal tonight, a game that has the bookmakers leaving it up to the betting market to decide.
LAS VEGAS -- If the first round of pool play was an indicator of how the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off will be, we're in store for five more exciting games.
Sure, Team USA won big over Finland, but let's not pretend the first two periods weren't competitive. It was an explosive third period by the Americans that blew things open. But that could fuel Finland tonight against Sweden, which took Canada to overtime.
All eyes will be on what many believe is the biggest international showdown in decades, as Canada and USA battle in Montreal tonight, a game that has the bookmakers leaving it up to the betting market to decide.
The game opened Canada -115 with USA bringing back -105, and eventually getting to -110 on both sides. Money has trickled in on the Canadians, as we can find USA at -105. The total is 6.5 goals.
Sweden is -225 against Finland with a total of 5.5 goals.
Let's do a deep dive into this one:
WHY CANADA: Home ice and the home crowd. We heard the boos for the Star Spangled Banner when the Americans played Finland, but the hockey game itself somewhat drowned out the disdain for he anti-American crowd. Now the opposition happens to be the Canadians, and the crowd should be rocking for Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Canada all-star lineup.
WHY USA: Well, the Canadian crowd. The Americans made it clear in press conferences after their win over Finland that they did not like hearing the hisses and boos, but let it fuel their fire. Tonight it'll be exponentially worse, and that could ignite things for someone like Auston Matthews, who will be looking to get in on the scoring production after watching the Tkachuk brothers and Jack Eichel lead the charge in the Face-Off opener.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
THE PICK: USA -105 -- Connor Hellebuyck stood on his head, as they say, limiting Finland to one goal. He'll take this one personally, and we'll see why he is the leading candidate for the Vezina Trophy. And while Helly is doing what he does in between the pipes, don't be surprised if his Winnipeg teammate Kyle Connor finds a groove and helps his buddy out with strong play at the other end. Connor is just as big of a reason the Jets are in first place in the NHL standings this season. With Matthews, the Tkachuks, Eichel and Connor leading things on offense, the Americans will take the first meeting with Canada (expect them to play in the final).
(Season Record: 15-26-1, Net: -1320$, based on 100$ units)