Florida Panthers vs. Calgary Flames: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Calgary Flames play their first home game in two weeks on Saturday night as they welcome the Florida Panthers for their only visit of the season to the Saddledome.
Panthers vs Flames Betting Analysis
On Jan. 12 in south Florida, the Panthers were -130 favourites but lost to Calgary 4-2 – that was victory No. 6 of the Flames’ season-high seven game winning streak. It was made even more impressive in that it was the second of a back-to-back for Calgary after winning at the best team in hockey, Tampa Bay, 24 hours earlier.
David Rittich got the start in net – Mike Smith played the night before — and stopped 41 shots in being named the game’s No. 3 star. The Flames trailed 1-0 early in the second but scored three straight in the period by Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau (power play). The Panthers got a goal at 13:03 of the third to make things interesting, but Mikael Backlund scored an empty-netter at 19:14. He also had two assists in the game. Tkachuk added an assist and was the No. 1 star. Evgenii Dadanov scored both for Florida, and James Reimer made 25 saves.
Last season, Florida lost 5-2 in Calgary. Backlund scored twice in just 13 seconds in the second period to break a 2-all tie and had an assist. Vincent Trocheck had both goals for Florida. Roberto Luongo was in net and former Flame Chad Johnson for Calgary.
The Flames have won four straight in the series overall. The total has gone over in the past seven meetings.
Florida Panthers
As it fights for a wild-card spot, Florida (25-23-6) has started a five-game trip through Canada with back-to-back wins. It was 7-5 in Edmonton on Monday and 4-3 in Vancouver on Wednesday. Reimer was in net for both. The Panthers were down 2-1 more than midway through the first period vs. the Canucks but got goals from Jamie McGinn (eighth of season), Alex Petrovic (first) and Nick Bjugstad (10) to take a lead they would never relinquish. Aleksander Barkov had two assists and was the game’s No. 1 star. The Flames could face former Canucks goaltender Luongo in this one. He hasn’t played since Dec. 4 due to a groin injury but was activated off injured reserve before Wednesday’s game. Luongo was off to a good start (2.62 GAA, .928 SV in 15 games) before going down.
Calgary Flames
If you had told the Flames (30-20-8) they would have gone .500 on their just-completed six-game road trip, they likely would have been thrilled. However, they won four of the six following a 4-3 upset win in Nashville on Thursday night with Rittich in net a second straight game due to Smith’s groin injury (Smith’s return remains TBA). Rittich stopped 29 of 32 shots as his team rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits against the defending Western Conference champion. Tkachuk continued his hot streak with a goal and an assist; he has five points in the past four games. The Flames were 2-for-3 on the power play Thursday against one of the world’s best goalies in Pekka Rinne.
