Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks: NHL Betting Odds and Prediction

Payton Matthews
Last Updated: October 3, 2018

Of the four opening-night games, Flames-Canucks is the lone one to feature two teams that missed the playoffs last year. The cutoff line to reach the post-season in the Western Conference was 95 points by the Colorado Avalanche. Calgary finished with 84 and Vancouver 73, ahead of only Arizona in the West.

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

These teams played twice this pre-season, but not much to take from Calgary’s two three-goal wins. Last regular season, the Flames were 3-1 vs. the Canucks. Oddly, every game was decided by multiple goals and the teams didn’t play after mid-December.

Dougie Hamilton, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk led Calgary with five points each vs. Vancouver. Tkachuk and Giordano each topped the Flames with three goals. Mike Smith started three of the four and was 2-1-0 with a 3.05 goals-against average and .878 save percentage.

Daniel Sedin, Brock Boeser and Michael Del Zotto led Vancouver with three points each for the Canucks vs. the Flames. Boeser and Derek Dorsett led with two goals each. Jacob Markstrom started three of the four and was 1-2-0 with a 4.88 GAA and .833 SV.

The home team is 8-3 in the past 11 meetings. Sports Interaction currently lists the Flames as slight -1.5 favorites.

Calgary Flames

It will be the regular-season Flames debut of new coach Bill Peters, the franchise’s fourth coach in nine years. Peters had been Carolina’s head coach since 2014 but stepped down after last season likely ahead of getting replaced. Speaking of the Hurricanes, Calgary surprised many by trading the very talented Hamilton to Carolina at the NHL draft along with forward Micheal Ferland and a prospect for forward Elias Lindholm and defenceman Noah Hanifin. Hamilton is the best player in that group but was a bit of a headache. Lindholm is a fine forward and had 16 goals and 44 assists last year. Hanifin had 10 goals and 22 assists but was minus-20.

The Flames’ big free-agent addition was forward James Neal, who has scored at least 20 goals in each of his 10 seasons in the NHL. He had 25 goals and 19 assists in 2017-18 for the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights. Smith returns as the No. 1 in net, although Peters has said he hopes to somewhat “manage” Smith’s time this year. Calgary has a point total of 94.5 at Sports Interaction.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks have missed the post-season each of the past three years and it would be a huge surprise if they made it in 2019 as this franchise is still in rebuilding mode and full of young players. The best of the bunch is Boeser, who was a Calder Trophy finalist a season ago. He finished with 29 goals and 26 assists in 62 games before an injury ended his year.

How odd will it be for Canucks fans to not see the Sedin twins on the ice for opening night? The future Hall of Famers and team captains hung up the skates after last season. Really nowhere to go but up for a team that was 26^th in scoring and 26^th in goals-against in 2017-18. Vancouver has a season point total of 76.5, with the over a slight favourite.