Edmonton Oilers vs. Calgary Flames Prediction, NHL Odds
The Flames and Oilers open an important two-game home-and-home set in Calgary on Friday. Edmonton only leads Calgary by three points for the final North Division playoff spot, so an Oilers sweep would give Edmonton a nice seven-point cushion, while a Flames sweep would allow them to leapfrog the Oilers in the standings.
The Flames are slim -123 favourites to win on the NHL odds with a total of 6.5.
Oilers vs. Flames Betting Analysis
It’s a little ironic that the team with the NHL’s two leading scorers has struggled to score recently. Edmonton has missed the Over in four of their last five games. They’ve historically found the net against the Flames, however, as the Oilers have hit the Over in 10 of their last 14 games in Calgary. Edmonton is 8-10 against the spread this season.
Calgary has been inconsistent with their results, but they have been consistent with their goals against the Oilers. The Flames have hit the Over in four of their last five games against Edmonton. Calgary is 7-9 ATS overall this season.
Edmonton Oilers
It was once again the big boys that got it done for Edmonton in their 3-2 win over Winnipeg on Wednesday. The league’s second leading scorer, Leon Draisaitl, buried two goals that the league’s leading scorer, Connor McDavid, picked up assists on. Mike Smith stopped 33 of 35 shots faced in just his fourth start of the year. On Wednesday McDavid hit the 500 point mark in his 369th career game, the exact same amount of games it took Sidney Crosby to reach the same milestone.
A sweep in this two-game set over Calgary would give Edmonton a comfortable seven point lead over the Flames for the final playoff spot. Getting swept or even giving up two or more points would be disastrous however, as Calgary has two games in hand over the Oilers. Since their 3-6 start to the season, Edmonton has gone 7-2-0. Believe it or not we’re past the quarter mark of the regular season. Every win is huge, so each two-game set could be life or death when it comes to the playoffs.
Calgary Flames
The Flames seem like a team that could easily be leading the North Division, but a lack of consistency is crushing them. The inconsistency was most apparent after an embarrassing 5-1 loss to Vancouver on Wednesday. Andrew Mangiapane had the lone goal for his fifth marker of the season. Jacob Markstrom, who for the most part has been solid his year, was pulled after allowing five goals on 29 shots. David Rittich stopped all four shots he saw in relief. In 14 games Markstrom is 8-5-1 with a 2.61 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.
Before the loss to the Canucks, Calgary had won four of their past six games. As inconsistent as the Flames have been, this is the biggest two-game set of their season coming up. Calgary only trails Edmonton by three points, so two wins over the Oilers would bump them ahead of their provincial rivals in the standings and they would also have two games in hand. In a condensed season, every mini series like this could mean the difference between a playoff spot and an early off-season. The question is, which Calgary team will show up on Friday?
EDM
CAL