NHL Matchup - December 14 and 15, 2007

The Anaheim Ducks will try to avenge an early-season loss to the Minnesota Wild when the teams clash Friday at the Honda Center.

Anaheim holds an edge head-to-head, going 6-3-0-1 over the past 10 meetings, including last season’s first-round playoff series, which Anaheim won four games to one en route to its first Stanley Cup championship. But when the teams met on Oct. 14, Minnesota shut out the Ducks 2-0 in Anaheim.

In their last game, the Wild (16-12-2 SU) were dumped 4-1 by the San Jose Sharks on the road Tuesday as +150 underdogs. The Wild have lost three of its past four games. The Ducks (15-14-4 SU) fell 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks at home Wednesday as -160 favorites.

The stomach flu has been making its way through the Wild roster, affecting leading scorer Marian Gaborik as well as impressive rookie Aaron Voros, Nick Schultz, James Sheppard and Eric Belanger. Coach Jacques Lemaire said Thursday he thought the players would be available for tonight's game.

Minnesota is expected to start Niklas Backstrom in goal, while the Ducks will go with Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The over/under total has gone Under in four of Minnesota's past six on the road against Anaheim.

Betting Line: The Ducks are 155-moneyline favorites at Sportbet. The over/under is 5

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens battle for the 687th time Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Both teams have five wins over the past 10 meetings. They last faced each other on Nov. 27, when the Canadiens edged the Leafs 4-3 in Toronto. The Maple Leafs are 2-5 in their past seven games in Montreal. Last season, four of the eight games between the teams went to a shootout. 

In their last games, Toronto (13-12-6 SU) bombed the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 at home on Monday, and Montreal (15-11-5 SU) beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on the road Thursday.

Toronto is expected to go with Vesa Toskala in net, while Montreal will go with Carey Price, although goaltender Cristobal Huet, who has missed the past four games since pulling his groin, will be back in the line-up.

The “Over” has been predominant in Maple Leafs-Canadiens games over the past few seasons: The Over is 17-5-2 in the past 24 meetings, and 5-2-1 in the past eight meetings in Montreal.

Betting Line: Toronto is a +130-moneyline dog at Bet Jamaica