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Jeremy Perry
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Calgary Flames: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the playoffs in their debut season while the Calgary Flames are headed for the golf course after a disappointing campaign. The Knights are locked into the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and they can’t move up or down as a result of this game. That begs the question how much effort will they put into this with nothing on the line.
Golden Knights vs. Flames Betting Analysis
This is a bit of an ugly game to bet given the circumstance. Normally, Las Vegas would be the team to bet but they probably won’t have a killer instinct in this spot given that they have little to gain here. As for Calgary, they’ve been a disaster and haven’t cared at all of late.
The Golden Knights have won all three of their meetings with the Flames this season, two at home and one in Calgary. Two of the games have gone over the posted total, and two of those totals have also been six goals even.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights are 51-23-7 after a 4-3 loss in Edmonton on Thursday night. Brayden McNabb, Brandon Pirri and Oscar Lindberg all lit the lamp for the Golden Knights, who got 30 saves from Malcolm Subban. With playoff positioning a non-factor, the Golden Knights can afford to rest any players who have any sort of injuries for this game. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Golden Knights rested most of their top players or at least limited their ice time for this game.
If Las Vegas is going for it, they shouldn’t have too many problems with the Flames. Calgary is a team that’s dropped nine of their last 10 games and has looked tapped out of late. They have scored just nine goals in their last nine games, which is embarrassing. At this point, Vegas’ B-Team might be able to beat these guys as Calgary has no interest in making any type of effort these days.
Calgary Flames
The Flames fell to 36-35-10 on Thursday with a 2-1 loss in Winnipeg. Jon Gilles made 24 saves for the Flames, who have lost nine of their last 10 games. Where would you like to start for this collapse? The Flames have allowed four goals or more in seven of those 10 games. Their offense has scored two goals or less in eight of those games, including getting shut out three times and scoring one goal four times. From front to back, the Flames have been terrible as of late. They were 25-16-4 at one point this season but have since dropped 25 of their last 36 games.
The one factor to keep in mind here is that the Golden Knights could be a little bit tired in this spot. For Vegas, this will wrap up a three-game Canadian road trip, which means that they are far away from home. While the games have been spaced out – three games in six nights – they could be a little flat-footed in a meaningless game as they look ahead towards the playoffs.
