NHL Hockey Betting: Calgary Flames at Ottawa Senators
It’ll be a non-conference interprovincial battle at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday as the Ottawa Senators host the Calgary Flames. The Sens are playing well at the moment and have a hold on second place in the Atlantic Division. They’re 6-3-1 in their last ten games and are two up on Toronto (who won last night) and 8 back of the Atlantic leading Montreal Canadiens. They’re also 3 up on fourth place Boston and 7 up on fifth place Florida. They’re 14-7-5 on home ice this season and given their difficult goaltending issues (more about that in a moment) they have to be pleased with where they’re at heading into the All Star Break.
The Calgary Flames, on the other hand, are watching their season swirl down the drain. The Flames enter this contest having lost four straight and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. They’ve been the picture of mediocrity all season long and that’s not going to get it done in the Western Conference. They’re 24-24-3 on the season, 13-13-0 at home and 11-11-3 on the road. They’ve also been a money loser in non-conference games (7-11 -5 units). The Senators are 10-7 +4.4 units against the West.
Neither team has confirmed their goalies at this point but Ottawa doesn’t really have any options other than former Montreal backup Mike Condon. Condon is playing well under very trying circumstances as he’s for all intents and purposes the only goalie on the roster at this point. Starter Craig Anderson is out indefinitely as his wife battles cancer and backup Andrew Hammond out indefinitely due to an ankle injury. Chris Driedger is on the roster as an ’emergency’ fill in but the Senators haven’t thought enough of him to give him a start. Instead, Hammond has started 20 consecutive games and 22 of the last 23. So far he’s been up to the workload and is coming off an excellent performance in a 3-0 win over the Washington Capitals. As far as Calgary goes, they’ve got Chad Johnson penciled in but neither goalie has performed well of late. Johnson has started 7 of the last 10 games though you could just as likely see Brian Elliott here.
Toronto the better team at this point and playing with a lot of heart despite their goaltending issues. They should get the win here.
BET OTTAWA SENATORS -140 OVER CALGARY FLAMES
