NHL Hockey Betting: Calgary Flames at St. Louis Blues

Non-conference action in America’s Heartland on Saturday as the St. Louis Blues host the smoking hot Calgary Flames. The Blues have a nose ahead of the midpack in the Central Division, holding down second place six points back of the Dallas Stars but just two head over third place Chicago and Minnesota. They’re just 5-4-1 in their last 10 games but with the rest of the teams behind them treading water (with the exception of Colorado 7-3-0 in their last ten) they’ve been able to hold on to the runner up spot in the division, at least for the time being. The Blues have been playing very good defense of late and have moved into the top ten in the goals against per game standings–they’re tied for #7 with Chicago allowing just 2.36 a game.

True to their name, the Calgary Flames are currently the hottest team in the league. That sounds somewhat odd given the team’s struggles in the first two months of the season dealing with injuries and horrific goaltending. The Flames still give up the most goals per game in the league (3.35) and are dead last in both major special teams categories. They’re up to #13 in goals per game but that really doesn’t tell the story of the team’s recent play. One component of their success has been the emergence of Johnny Gaudreau as a borderline unstoppable offensive force. He’s shown flashes of brilliance since joining the league but he’s doing it on a consistent basis now with 12 goals, 21 assists for 33 points and a +6. Calgary has won 7 straight and not a lot of pushovers during the streak–they’ve beat Dallas twice (at home and on the road), Boston, San Jose, Nashville, the NY Rangers and Buffalo. During the streak they’re averaging 3.28 goals per game and allowing an average of 2.14 goals against. There’s nothing wrong with those numbers and Calgary is now

There’s a lot of reasons that Calgary shouldn’t win this game–they’re coming off of two tough, grinding wins at Nashville (2-1 in OT) and Dallas (3-1). But, then again, so is St. Louis (4-3 at Winnipeg and 2-1 at home against Nashville). Just don’t want to get in front of this Calgary freight train at the moment and we’re getting a nice plus money price. Should be a fun one to watch–Gaudreau and St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko are arguably the most exciting players in the game with that McDavid kid sidelined.

BET CALGARY FLAMES +150 OVER ST. LOUIS BLUES