Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Calgary Flames start a two-game road trip Tuesday night at the Dallas Stars, with every point important for both Western Conference clubs as they battle for playoff spots.
Flames vs. Stars Betting Analysis
Last of three meetings. These teams enter the week holding down the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference, so the winner of this season series would hold a potentially huge tiebreaker. That’s Dallas regardless of what happens Tuesday because the Stars won the first two matchups.
On Oct. 27 in Calgary, the Stars won 2-1. Both Dallas goals were on the power play, and Alexander Radulov scored the winner at 12:50 of the third. Defenceman Esa Lindell had the other Stars goal and Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves. Johnny Gaudreau scored for Calgary, which was 0-for-2 with the man advantage, while Mike Smith finished with 22 saves.
On Nov. 24 in Dallas, the Stars were 6-4 winners. Dallas outscored Calgary 3-1 in the third period – Tyler Seguin had two of those and finished with a hat trick, his first in 163 games. Sean Monahan’s second goal of the game at 6:04 of the third had given the Flames a 4-3 lead. Smith had 35 saves and the Stars’ Ben Bishop 34.
The road team has won nine of the past 13 in this series overall. They tend to be high scoring a swell with 15 of the previous 24 going over the total.
Calgary Flames
It’s the front end of a back-to-back for Calgary (32-22-9) as it visits Colorado on Wednesday. The Flames enter on a two-game winning streak and beat those Avalanche on Saturday at the Saddledome, 5-1. John Gillies made 28 saves to improve to 2-0-0 in his young NHL career. Smith missed his sixth straight outing with a groin injury. Not clear yet if it will be Gillies or usual Smith backup David Rittich on Tuesday; Rittich was shelled for seven goals in his most recent start last Wednesday in a loss at Vegas. Mikael Backlund had a goal and two assists Saturday for his second three-point game of the season. Micheal Ferland was out with an undisclosed injury and didn’t skate at practice Monday. He’s sixth on the team with 34 points (20G, 14 A).
Dallas Stars
Dallas (35-23-4) started a five-game homestand with a 5-3 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday. Lehtonen allowed four goals on 21 shots before being pulled in his first regulation loss since Dec. 15. Bishop replaced Lehtonen with 8:01 left in the second and stopped five of six shots. It will be Bishop on there Tuesday. He’s 24-17-3 with a 2.53 goals-against average and .915 save percentage on the season. Tyler Pitlick scored the fastest goal in franchise history in the loss, doing so just 10 seconds in. Seguin also found the net for the second straight game. He leads the team with 31 goals on the year. The Brampton native is on pace to break his career high of 37. The Stars’ power play is in a funk right now with just one goal in the past eight games. That units ranks 21st in converting 19.1 per cent of the time.
