Face-off: 2200 ET, 12/02/2022
Arena: Scotiabank Saddledome
Calgary will go in search of a sixth straight victory when the New York Islanders bring their three-game western Canada road trip to an end.
The Flames have been impressive since resuming after the All-Star break, with a 6-0 victory over Vegas followed by a 5-2 win over Toronto.
Their next opponents went down to a 3-1 loss at Edmonton last night and a home win by three goals at 5.25 is tempting in the first of our NHL predictions.
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Calgary Flames Odds
Calgary have gone 8-2-0 over the last 10 games and their winning streak has seen them climb to second in the Pacific Division, three points adrift of Vegas with four games in hand.
While they are some way adrift of Colorado for the lead in the west, they will be keen to maintain the momentum.
Centre Mikael Backlund has hit form since the resumption following the All-Star break and he insists the team are focused on continuing their strong play.
He said: “The guys are really excited. We were excited to come back after the break and we’re excited to get the second half going.
“We know how much every game means now and how much every point means in a tight race, a tight division.
“We know we have to stay on top of it, but the guys are all really excited for it.
“We all want to get back into the playoffs and I think we have a perfect team for the playoffs. I feel like we have some experience, we have the depth and great goaltending.
“I think that will be big for us down the stretch here and hopefully we bring it into the playoffs.”
Punters can get 2.05 for the hosts to score the first goal in the opening period and that is added to our Calgary Flames vs New York Islanders predictions.
New York Islanders Odds
Despite the defeat to the Oilers, who were playing their first game under new coach Jay Woodcroft, Islanders boss Barry Trotz was happy with his team’s efforts.
Anthony Beauvillier got the Islanders back into the game in the second period after Cody Ceci and Zach Hyman had given Edmonton a two-goal cushion, but Jesse Puljujarvi iced it.
However, Trotz felt the Islanders turned in a strong effort and said: “It’s a pretty random sport sometimes, so you just try to control what we can control.
“We can control our effort, which was really good, our pace to our game was pretty good, our structure to our game was good, our physicality was good, our discipline was good and our power play was dangerous.
“All that being said, there weren’t that many negatives other than the score.”
With the Islanders offering a threat and the Flames on a hot streak, Calgary to win and both teams to score two or more goals at 3.60 is another fancy from the NHL odds for this contest.
Additional stats
Last result:
CALGARY 5-2 Toronto
Edmonton 3-1 NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Head-to-head: NY Islanders 2-5 Calgary
