NHL Hockey Betting: Calgary Flames at Arizona Coyotes

The Calgary Flames have been playing excellent hockey of late and are trying to get themselves into the logjam at the top of the Pacific Division. They’ll take on a divisional rival on Monday night as they visit the struggling Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes are in last place in the Pacific Division and really need to pick up their pace if they want to keep up with the top half of the division. The Flames have been a somewhat enigmatic team this season as evidenced by their losing record at home and their 9-6-2 record on the road. They had won six straight games in early December but have lost their last two, dropping home verdicts to the Tampa Bay Lightning and the red hot Columbus Blue Jackets. Arizona’s month has been almost diametrically opposite. They lost six straight games in late November/early December but have since won 3 of 5 including a home win over Nashville and road wins at Detroit and Toronto.

Brian Elliott will get the start for the Flames tonight and he desperately needs a good performance. He’s already lost his starting job to Chad Johnson who is playing some of the best hockey of his career. Elliott has a 3-9-1 record with a 3.31 goals against average and a 0.886 save percentage. Not exactly what Calgary bargained for when they acquired him from St. Louis in the off season. He’ll be opposed by Mike Smith who has a 7-5-4 record with a 2.62 goals against average and a 0.930 save percentage. The Coyotes have been miserable across the board from a statistical standpoint. They’re #28 in goals against, #30 in goals for, #27 on the power play and #20 on the penalty kill.

The Flames have had little trouble with the Coyotes in recent years. They’re 8-4 in the last 12 head to head meetings including 4-2 at Arizona. They’ve won both games played this season taking 2-1 verdicts at home on 11/16 and on the road on 12/8. The Coyotes have plenty of ugly statistics to go around but the ugliest might be their 4-15 record in ‘revenge’ games this year. Hard to see Arizona doing much of anything this season and it’s equally as heard to see them beating the Flames here.

BET CALGARY FLAMES -145 OVER ARIZONA COYOTES