NHL
Sports Interaction Staff
October 4, 2017

Calgary Flames vs. Edmonton Oilers: NHL Betting Odds, Prediction

The NHL season gets underway Wednesday night with a classic Battle of Alberta – and both teams are getting plenty of attention as they square off at Rogers Place. The Oilers come in as a favorite to reach the Stanley Cup final this season, led by defending scoring champion Connor McDavid and fellow offensive threat Leon Draisaitl. The Flames enter the season with plenty of optimism – and a whole lot of experience thanks to their most recent addition.

Flames vs. Oilers

Moneyline: Oilers -180
Date: Wednesday, October 4, 10 p.m. ET
Location: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alta.

Moneyline and Betting Analysis

Expect to see this a lot this season – the Oilers are a comfortable moneyline favourite over the rival Flames thanks to a combination of home-ice advantage and quite possibly the most prolific offense in the league. Edmonton won all four meetings with Calgary last season, racking up 21 goals in the process. Three of those triumphs were by two or more goals, making the Oilers puckline bet (-1.5, +170) a potentially strong play in this one.

Sports Interaction bettors are expecting things to go exactly as they did last season, with a whopping 87 percent favouring the Oilers. They’re also expecting plenty of fireworks, with 71 percent taking over 5.5 goals. Three of four meetings last season went over, and if you’re willing to bump the total up by a goal, you’ll get a nice +133 payoff for over 6.5. Given the way the Oilers rack up goals, you could do a lot worse.

Calgary Flames

Oddsmakers have given the Flames the fourth-best odds to win the Pacific Division (+493), while giving them +1,100 odds to come out of the Western Conference. A playoff berth should be well within reach for the Flames, who added ageless forward Jaromir Jagr and veteran netminder Mike Smith to a team that already boasts a decent top-six forward unit and one of the deepest, most imposing defense corps in the league.

Edmonton Oilers

All those lean years have finally given way to hope in Edmonton, with the Oilers listed by Sports Interaction as +700 co-favourites with the Pittsburgh Penguins to capture the Stanley Cup. McDavid leads a top-six forward group that is as dangerous as any in hockey, while goaltender Cam Talbot looks to build upon a career season in which he led the NHL in games played (73), wins (42) and saves (1,946). Edmonton is listed at +350 to win the West.