Detroit Red Wings at Calgary Flames Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: Detroit -110 / Calgary -110 O/U 5.5 goals
Time: 9:30 PM EST Monday March 15, 2010
Tonight in a very important Western Conference match up north of the border the Calgary Flames host the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit is in the 8th and last playoff spot in the West while Calgary is in the 9th position in the conference only trailing the Red Wings by 1` point. The Red Wings have won 2 straight and are 6-4 in their last 10 games and the Flames are coming off a loss and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
This season the Flames are 17-15-3 at home and the Red Wings are 14-13-7 on the road.
In their last games the Red Wings beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Saturday while the Flames lost to the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 yesterday.
These 2 teams played last Tuesday in Detroit and the Flames scored 3 goals in the 3rd period to come back and beat the Red Wings 4-2.
Calgary has won 2 of 3 games against Detroit this season.
Detroit only has the leagues 17th ranked offense averaging 2.66 goals per game, but they have been playing better since the Olympic break. Red Wings leading scorer Pavel Datsyuk (21 goals) has 4 goals in his last 5 games.
Either Miikka Kiprusoff (30 wins 2.22 GAA save percentage 92.3%) or the newly acquired Vesa Toskala (1 win 1.22 GAA save percentage 94.6% with Calgary) will get the start between the pipes tonight for the Flames and each has had success against Detroit. Kiprusoff is 2-1 with a 1.34 GAA against Detroit this season and Toskala is 7-1-0 with a 1.60 GAA in his career against Detroit.
Calgary wins with their defense, as their offense has struggled all season only ranking 26th in the league averaging 2.52 goals per game.
Detroit G Jimmy Howard (26 wins 2.35 GAA save percentage 92.4%) will not be facing a solid offense tonight, but against Calgary this season he is only 0-2-0 with a 3.06 GAA.
The one guy the Red Wings have to key on is Jarome Iginla, who had a goal and an assist at Detroit last week and leads the Flames in goals (31), assists (33), and points (64).
Wagering Trends
Detroit is 4-1 in their last 5 games and has an Over record of 5-1 in their last 6 games.
Calgary is 4-10 in their last 14 games against teams in the Western Conference and has an Under record of 24-5 in their last 29 home games.
The Red Wings have lost 4 of their last 5 games against the Flames.
Our Selection : Pass
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.