Washington Capitals vs Montreal Canadiens Prediction, Preview and Odds - 04/25/2025

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET, Friday, April 25, 2025

Venue:  Centre Bell, Montréal, QC

Where to Watch:  TNT, MAX, truTV

DraftKings:  Moneyline:  Capitals -125, Canadiens +105; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

Bet365:  Moneyline:  Capitals -120, Canadiens +100; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

BetMGM:  Moneyline:  Capitals -125, Canadiens +105; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

Washington Capitals:  51-22-9 (1st place, Metropolitan Division)

Montreal Canadiens:  40-31-11 (5th place, Atlantic Division)

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Washington Capitals:  5-5-0 last 10

Montreal Canadiens:  5-2-3 last 10

The Capitals are entering the playoffs with 111 points, a 51-22-9 record overall, and they were 25-13-3 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a win against the Montreal Canadiens in their last game, winning that one at home 3-1. Connor McMichael led the team in goals scored with 2 while Dylan Strome scored 1 goal for them in that one. Anthony Beauvillier, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Ryan Leonard, Taylor Raddysh, and Tom Wilson each led the team in assists with 1 while Connor McMichael led the team in shots on net in that game with 4. Logan Thompson was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 1 goal on 26 shots with 25 saves and a .962 sv percentage. Their offense has scored 288 goals this season averaging 3.5 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 232 goals against them allowing 2.8 goals per game.

The Canadiens are entering the playoffs with 91 points, a 40-31-11 record overall, and they were 23-12-6 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a loss against the Washington Capitals in their last game, losing that one on the road 3-1. Christian Dvorak scored 1 goal for them in that one. Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher each led the team in assists with 1 while Juraj Slafkovský led the team in shots on net in that game with 5. Sam Montembeault was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 2 goals on 31 shots with 29 saves and a .935 save percentage. Their offense has scored 245 goals this season averaging 3 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 265 goals against them allowing 3.2 goals per game.

The current betting odds have the Canadiens listed as a slight underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. This is game 3 of a 7 game series between the 1st seeded Capitals from the Metropolitan Division and the 2nd Wild Card seeded Canadiens from the Atlantic Division for the 1st round of the NHL playoffs. The Capitals are leading this series 2-0 after winning game 2 at home. The Capitals took a 2-0 series lead with a 3-1 win over the Canadiens in the 2nd game, but that was a really tight win for them and so far, both games in this series have been tight. The Caps took the 1st game of this series in overtime after blowing a 2-0 lead and now they are coming off a 3-1 win which they fell behind 1-0 and quickly took a 2-1 lead after that, finally scoring an empty netter to ice the game. The Capitals have been the best team in the East this season and they were a really good road team too, but they didn't look great in their games coming into the playoffs and they haven't looked like a strong number 1 seed in their first 2 games. The Canadiens have looked good in both losses of this series and they were really hot coming into the playoffs as they needed every last game to secure their Wild Card spot so they have been playing playoff hockey for weeks. They have also looked a lot better on home ice this year with their 23-12-6 home record so they are going to bring a better effort in this home game, and they are going to be desperate to win as they don't want to fall behind 3-0 in the series. The best way to place a bet here is on the Canadiens to win this game. 

Capitals Canadiens Prediction:  Our NHL Pick for Friday, April 25, 2025 (7:00 pm ET start time) is Canadiens 3 Capitals 2.

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Washington Capitals: 63-64 (-7.3 units) on the moneyline off a win in their previous game. 63-48 (-8.9 units) on the moneyline when playing against a team with a losing record. 89-107 (-27.1 units) on the moneyline against excellent power play teams- scoring on over 17.5% of their chances. 34-27 UNDER when playing against a marginal losing team (Win Pct. 40% to 49%). 

Montreal Canadiens: 56-67 (+6.9 units) on the moneyline in home games. 21-24 (+7.9 units) on the moneyline after scoring 1 goal or less in their previous game. 21-34 (+9.3 units) on the moneyline when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 75%). 39-27 UNDER versus very good teams - outscoring their opponents by 0.5+ goals/game. 

Washington Capitals:  M. Fehervary (D) Out For Season - Meniscus. A. Protas (C) Day To Day - Foot. S. Milano (LW) Out - Upper-body. N. Backstrom (C) Out For Season - Hip. T. Oshie (RW) Out For Season - Back.

Montreal Canadiens:  K. Dach (C) Out For Season - Lower Body.

“That was the ‘LT’ that we saw it for call it 40 games or whatever he was playing at the beginning of the year where you could feel the confidence. You could feel the building with the energy with each save. It felt like he just got bigger and bigger and bigger. He was tested. He made some huge saves in that third period to keep us in front.” - Spencer Carbery after his team’s win against the Canadiens in game 2 of this series on Wednesday.

“These were two games where you can’t buy that experience for our players. We battled, there were moments that hurt us, they cost us the game. But the team doesn’t give up, we had a lot of chances in the third to maybe repeat what happened Monday and go to overtime.” - Martin St Louis after his team’s loss against the Capitals in game 2 of this series on Wednesday.

LW Alex Ovechkin

C Dylan Strome

RW Anthony Beauvillier

LD Jakob Chychrun

RD John Carlson

G Logan Thompson

LW Cole Caufield

C Nick Suzuki

RW Juraj Slafkovský

LD Mike Matheson

RD Alexandre Carrier

G Sam Montembeault

Points: D. Strome (82)

Goals: A. Ovechkin (44)

Assists: D. Strome (53)

GAA: L. Thompson (2.49)

Points: N. Suzuki (89)

Goals: C. Caufield (37)

Assists: L. Hutson (60)

GAA: J. Dobes (2.74)

Coaches:

Washington Capitals: Spencer Carbery (2nd season)

Montreal Canadiens: Martin St. Louis (3rd season)