Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks Prediction, NHL Odds
The late game on a six-game NHL slate Sunday is also the league’s only all-Canadian affair as the Calgary Flames visit the rival Vancouver Canucks, who are -140 favourites on the NHL odds with a total of 5.5 goals.
Flames vs. Canucks NHL Betting Odds
One issue with NHL teams scheduled to play on Sundays is that they are often in the second of a back-to-back as Saturday is usually the busiest day of the week in terms of total games scheduled. Calgary is in the second of a B2B but Vancouver is not. Obviously an edge there. The Flames are 2-2-0 in the second game of a B2B this season.
This marks the second of three regular-season meetings between the rivals who occupy the bottom two spots of the Pacific Division for now. On Oct. 9, the Flames also visited Rogers Arena and got routed, 5-1. That was also the second of a B2B for Calgary, but the season opener for Vancouver. Filip Chytil was the No. 1 star with two goals, while Thatcher Demko made 17 saves. Morgan Frost scored for Calgary, beating Demko with 6:54 left. Dustin Wolf was in the Calgary net.
Getting out to a lead is always important on the NHL, with the Flames at 1-5-0 on the road when they trail at the first intermission. They have scored 16 goals combined in the first and second periods away but 13 in the third.
Calgary Flames
Calgary enters having won back-to-back games for only the second time this season and looking for its first three-game winning streak after a 3-2 shootout home upset of Dallas on Saturday night. Nazem Kadri scored the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout, and Devin Cooley made 28 saves. He has been in net for both these recent wins and might be stealing the No. 1 job from Dustin Wolf, who should be in there tonight. The American was a breakout star last year but has really struggled this season at 5-11-2 with a 3.08 GAA and .892 SV.
Kadri enters with back-to-back games of two helpers and looks to be the second different Flames player in the past 10 years to post three straight multi-assist games. He would join Johnny Gaudreau, who did it four times with a long of four in the 2018-19 campaign. Calgary is 2-10 in its past 12 road games overall.
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver also comes off a game against Dallas but a 4-2 home defeat on Thursday for a second straight loss. It was tied 2-2 entering the third. Colin Blackwell broke it with 9:13 left. Vancouver had a two-man advantage for 1:20 early in the second, but couldn’t find the net. Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson had the first-period goals. Pettersson has nine points (4-5-9) in his last five games.
All-Star blueliner Quinn Hughes played in his 450th game Thursday. He was kept off the scoresheet but had totaled 10 helpers in the previous three games, the most assists by a Canucks skater in any three-game stretch in franchise history. In 29 career games against the Flames, Hughes has 22 points (3-19-22). Fellow blueliner Filip Hronek missed Saturday’s practice with an illness and is in question. He has 12 points and a plus-3 rating on the year. Probably Kevin Lankinen again in net with Thatcher Demko on IR. Lankinen 3-2-0 with a 2.05 GAA and a .930 SV in six career games against Calgary. The over is 10-1 in the Canucks’ past 11 games.
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