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Washington Capitals vs. Calgary Flames: NHL Odds, Prediction

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The Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames are two teams that are ice cold right now. Both enter Sunday’s affair in the midst of slumps as the Flames have lost four of five while the Caps have dropped six of nine. Compounding Washington’s problems is that this is the second leg of a back-to-back on the road and it’s their third game in four nights as they finish up this Canadian west coast swing. They’ve played well in this series recently but can they keep it up on Sunday?

Capitals vs. Flames

 

Date: Sunday, October 29th, 9:00 PM ET

Location: Scotiabank Saddledome

NHL Odds: Flames -140

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

 The Caps and Flames don’t play each other very often as they’re in different conferences but Washington has won three of the last four meetings. The Caps have also won two straight in Calgary. We don’t have much to work with in terms of trends for the totals as 13 of the last 22 meetings have gone over while six of the last 10 in Calgary have also gone over.

 Washington Capitals

 The Capitals earned a victory in Edmonton on Saturday night but wins have been few and far between for this team. Since starting the season with back-to-back wins, Washington has dropped six of its last nine games. Surprisingly, offence seems to be an issue as the Caps are scoring just 2.90 goals per game, which is 19th in the NHL. That’s a significant step back from the 3.18 (third in NHL) they averaged last season.

The goaltending has also labored (in comparison to last season) as Braden Holtby has an ugly 2.87 GAA so far. That’s the worst number in his career. He’s been much worse on the road, posting a 3.80 GAA and a .877 save percentage in away games compared to 1.70 and .952 at home.

Calgary Flames

Calgary started the year fairly positively with wins in four of their first six games but the Flames have dropped four of five since. Their offense has disappeared as they’re averaging just 1.8 goals per game over that span. Goaltender Mike Smith continues to give his team a chance to win as he’s allowed two goals or less in six of his 10 starts – giving more than three just once – but the Flames aren’t scoring enough.

The Flames are at home in this showdown but the home ice hasn’t been an advantage this season. They are just 1-4-0 at home compared to 4-2-0 away. Washington has been similar as they are 1-3-0 at home compared to 4-2-1 on the road.

Capitals vs. Flames prediction:

 Capitals 3, Flames 1