NHL Hockey Betting: Calgary Flames at Detroit Red Wings

The Calgary Flames lost at St. Louis yesterday but that’s about all they haven’t done right over the past couple of weeks. The loss to the Blues ended a seven game winning streak that included a pair of wins over the Dallas Stars (aka the top team in the Western Conference) along with wins over the New York Rangers, Nashville, Boston and San Jose. After a less than impressive start to the season the Flames look to have ‘turned the corner’. They’ve certainly got a good chance of making the playoffs–with the exception of the Los Angeles Kings the Pacific Division has been very mediocre this year. Currently, a total of four points separate the other six teams in the league with second place San Jose just four points up on last place Anaheim.

Detroit has been a tough team to figure this year. They’ve gone on extended winning runs, extended losing runs and now they’re more or less ‘treading water’ with a 5-1-4 record in their last ten games. They come in to this game having lost three straight and four of their last five with every game being determined by a single goal. The Wings are competent but not exceptional in every phase of the game: 16th in goals scored, 15th in goals against, 20th on the power play and 11th on the penalty kill. They’ve got some nice young talent led by Dylan Larkin but otherwise it’s mostly the same crew we’ve seen for years led by Henrick Zetterberg. Zetterberg is still playing at an elite level but age is not always served well in professional hockey.

The price on this game seems strange given the recent form of the two teams. The Flames are playing in the second of a back-to-back situation but their 2-3 record in that situation this year doesn’t really suggest much of anything. Calgary won the only other meeting between the teams this year taking a 3-2 victory at home on October 23. The Flames and Wings split two games last year. Hard not to like the way the Flames have been playing recently and that makes them very attractive as a decent sized underdog.

BET CALGARY FLAMES +160 OVER DETROIT RED WINGS