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The Montreal Canadians are struggling out of the gate. After winning their first two games of the season in overtime the Canadiens are riding a five game losing streak into tonight's game. It is so bad that if they lose tonight it will be the worst start for the franchise in 68 years. It is apparent that Montreal are struggling at both ends of the ice as they have been outscored 20-9 over their past five games. The cause for the early season struggles could be the large amount of change in the off-season; perhaps the team just haven't gelled yet.

The Atlanta Thrashers come to Montreal with a 4-1 record. All four of their wins have been by at least two goals. After taking out the Tampa Bay Lightning at home 6-3, the Thrashers have won three out of four on the road. Atlanta are playing well in front of third year net minder Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec, who has filled in nicely for Kari Lehtonen, has already matched his career high for wins in a season. Mind you, the 22-year old has just 20 career NHL starts, four of which are this season.

Offensively the Thrashers are being led by superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk. The first overall pick from the 2001 entry draft has seven goals from his first five games.

When betting on hockey I like going with the team that has had the most recent success. Montreal is definitely a team struggling right now, while the Atlanta Thrashers look to be in mid-season form. This is like a perfect storm. There is great value on Atlanta here in both the Regular Time odds and the Money Line. If you can get the regular time odds around +170 [2.70], where it has been traded, you are getting value.