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Morning Coffee: Habs hype peaks after electric 24 hours in Montreal
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Nobody could have predicted the Montreal Canadiens redemption arc for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Back in the darkest days of December, the Habs sat alone in the basement of the Eastern Conference standings with an 11-16-3 record through their first 30 games.
Four months later, the comeback kids have the city of Montreal absolutely buzzing with an epic turnaround that has them on pace to make the playoffs.
The Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 last night to improve to 28-14-6 since December 14th.
Montreal has won six in a row to pull eight points clear of the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference with four games remaining in the regular season.
The Habs fans that were busy researching top prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft back in December are suddenly debating the odds that Montreal can pull off an upset in the first round of the playoffs.
Somebody somewhere had the Canadiens to make the playoffs at the top of their Christmas wish list for Santa.
How else could Montreal’s magical run be explained?
This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday April 9th, 2025.
Habs Hype Peaks After Electric 24 Hours in Montreal
Est-ce que ça te rend parfois fou, à quelle vitesse la nuit change?
The Canadiens could be found as high as +1400 to make the playoffs at FanDuel back in December.
That number represented just a 6.7 per cent probability.
The Habs to make the playoffs could be found as high as +320 as recently as March 29th.
They haven’t lost a game since.
If you bet $10 on Montreal to beat the Florida Panthers as a +235 underdog on March 30th, then rolled your winnings over on them to win every game since, you’d be up a profit of $558.70.
There’s no tariff on FanDuel bets.
Montreal’s odds to make the playoffs were cut from -750 to -1200 after the New York Rangers lost in regulation to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Those odds are off the board this morning after the Canadiens pulled eight points clear of ninth place in the Eastern Conference with another win over Detroit.
An electric 24 hours started with the breaking news that 2024 first-round pick Ivan Demidov is on his way to Montreal after signing a three-year, entry-level contract.
It continued with the club’s first six-game win streak since the 2016-17 season after a comeback victory over Detroit in front of another packed house at the Bell Centre.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding the Habs, it’s worth noting that their odds to win 1+ playoff series did tick down from +320 to +280 last night.
The Canadiens might not be a popular bet to win a playoff series.
Then again, it feels like just yesterday that nobody even considered betting on this team to make the playoffs.
Habs fans deserve to enjoy this moment.
So, Ole, Ole, Ole Ole.
Maple Leafs, Lightning brace for Atlantic showdown
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a golden opportunity to seize control of first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over the rival Florida Panthers last night.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice…
After a 3-1 loss to the Panthers, the Maple Leafs will be the underdog once again when they visit Tampa Bay in a crucial game in the Atlantic Division standings.
Per the FanDuel traders, 59 per cent of the stakes for tonight’s game are on Toronto to win outright.
Despite that number, Maple Leafs moneyline has climbed from +136 to +150 at FanDuel over the past 12 hours.
Toronto’s odds to win the Atlantic have shifted from -380 to -220 at FanDuel over the past 24 hours.
The Lightning are up to -182 to win tonight and their odds to win the division were cut from +260 to +155.
All eyes will be on the Maple Leafs to see how they respond tonight.
Luka set for highly anticipated return to Dallas
Luka Doncic is set to make his highly anticipated return to the Lone Star State when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Dallas Mavericks tonight on TSN+.
The Mavericks were on pace to make the playoffs with a 26-23 record when they traded Doncic to the Lakers back in early February.
Fast-forward two months later, Dallas will need to win multiple play-in games just to avoid becoming the fifth team in the last 25 seasons that failed to make the playoffs the year following a trip to the NBA Finals.
FanDuel has Luka’s point prop at over/under 30.5.
Doncic to score 45+ points is +800.
Anthony Davis’ point prop is at over/under 25.5.
Meanwhile, the spread for tonight’s game has ticked down from Lakers -5.5 to -3.5 over the last 12 hours.
The Mavericks are +134 to win outright.
While I’m tempted to lay the points with the Lakers at that current number, I’ll lock in a Same Game Parlay with Luka Doncic to score 25+ points and LA to win outright at -117 odds.
I’ll also add Davis to record a double-double at -140 as a second FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s game.
Athletics over streak continues in epic fashion
In case you missed it, it took one inning to cash the over in last night’s game between the Athletics and San Diego Padres.
The over improved to 5-0 at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento this season.
The five MLB games at that ballpark have featured an average of 13.4 runs this season.
The over has now cashed in seven of the Athletics’ last eight games overall.
In case you’re wondering, the total for tonight’s game is sitting at 9.5 at FanDuel.
I haven’t bet the over, yet.
However, I did lock in a wager on the Boston Red Sox to beat the Toronto Blue Jays at -130 odds.
I’ll go with the Red Sox as a MLB FanDuel Best Bet today.
I’m also on the Los Angeles Dodgers to avoid a three-game sweep against the Washington Nationals.
After cashing six of my first seven MLB Challenge bets of the season, those plays went a combined 1-4 last night.
Hopefully, I can count on some better results today.
Have a great day, everyone!