The Montreal Canadiens had to fight almost to the end to secure a playoff berth, which meant they were fourth in the NHL’s North Division. Now they begin their post-season journey with a best-of-seven series against the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

The Canadiens are thankful that they are getting back some of their injured players, having had an eight-day respite. One of them is Brendan Gallagher, who resides on the first line.

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Another is Carey Price, who they are going to put into goal in Game 1. Price has been out for a month, and even though he has been practicing, there has to be at least a little concern about “rust.”

Gallagher is confident his team is going to carry the action against the favored Maple Leafs. “We have experience, we have youth we rely on, we have the best goaltender in the world, and we have a lot of guys who’ll compete,” he told reporters.

But DO they have the best goaltender in the world? Surely he doesn’t have youth on his side.

And this impacts the way we look at one of the props for Game 1.

Maple Leafs Team Total Prop Picks for Game 1

Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs Game 1 Preview

The prop involves the Maple Leafs’ team total for Game 1:

Over 3.5 Goals -101

Under 3.5 Goals -139

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Price has obviously had a very strong career. A seven-time All-Star, he has a Hart (Most Valuable Player) and Vezina (top goaltender) trophy to his credit, having won both of those for the Habs in the 2014-15 season, when he won a whopping 44 games with a 1.96 goals-against and .933 save percentage.

But his numbers haven’t been as stellar in the last several seasons. Last year he had a GAA of just 2.79, and this season it is just 2.64, with a save percentage than barely got above 90% (.901). And his Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) has been in the negative in three of the last four seasons. To give you some perspective, it was +36.7 in his MVP season.

In other words, what we’re telling you is that this is not a savior coming. In fact, if you go by the numbers, there isn’t a whole lot they lost with backup Jake Allen in the net.

What Price DOES have on his side is a lot of playoff experience; he has started 67 post-season games, and even though he’s had a won-lost record of 30-36, in the last two seasons he’s had GAA’s of 1.86 and 1.78 in playoff action.

But as you can imagine, it is so tough to be out of game play for an entire month and then come back and be effective against one of the NHL’s best teams, which placed six among all teams in total goals and has the NHL’s top goal scorer in Auston Matthews (41).

Price was sent to the AHL for “conditioning” and actually played two periods for Laval on Monday. He did indeed get off to a slow start, allowing two goals in the first four minutes. He wound up stopping 13 of 15 shots. So he’s a shaky proposition at best.

Toronto broke out of the gate nicely this season, outscoring opponents by a margin of 61-38 in the first period. That means they scored a little more than 61% of the first period goals in their games, far better than the other two periods.

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So it would stand to reason that they could get off to an early lead, and if that happens they will be able to more easily implement their more free-wheeling style of play, as Montreal will find it harder to play things tightly.

That will promote more offense on the Maple Leafs’ side, and that is why we like the OVER on the team total, at an agreeable price…… well, pardon the pun.

Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs Props Picks

The Play: TORONTO – OVER 3.5 GOALS -101

P.S. – At any number that is -220 or lower, we like the Leafs to be the “Team to Score First” as well.

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