Face-off: 2100 ET, 10/02/2022
Venue: Scotiabank Saddledome
Calgary and Toronto have both put together a good run of results recently and a close encounter is on the cards at Scotiabank Saddledome.
However, the Maple Leafs may just benefit from having more time to prepare, with the Flames forced to back up after last night’s big win over Vegas.
We’re taking 1.83 for an away victory on the money line to kick off our Calgary Flames vs Toronto Maple Leafs predictions.
Win up to $100 in cash with our Free to Play NHL predictions promotion!
Calgary Flames Odds
Obviously, Calgary can’t be faulted for their 6-0 rout of the Golden Knights, when they were 3-0 up after the first period and never looked back.
Andrew Mangiapane netted twice, Mikael Backlund had a goal and three assists and Matthew Tkachuk scored one and helped set up two others.
Jacob Markstrom also made 28 saves for a league-leading eighth shutout of the season to earn rave reviews from coach Darryl Sutter.
“Our first period really set up our game,” Tkachuk said. “When you’re up 3-0 after one like that, that’s really hard to come back from.
“We want to make this place a tough place to play. We want to be known as a great first-period team here.
“Because when you dominate like we did in the first period, that doesn’t give the other team a ton of confidence.”
Toronto also like to start strongly, though, and these teams are second and third respectively in terms of first-period goals this season.
Looking at the NHL odds, there is some appeal in 2.7 for the scores to be level after the opening 20 minutes here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Odds
Toronto are nine places and the same number of points above Calgary in the overall standings after rattling off six straight wins.
The Maple Leafs have been cut to fifth favourites in the Stanley Cup odds after that hot streak.
Mitchell Marner made it 10 goals in eight games when completing a double with the crucial overtime strike in Monday’s 4-3 defeat of Carolina.
Marner said: “Just the work ethic, the battle we had, it was something we talked about wanting to do more of – and this was a great night to start that.”
Head coach Sheldon Keefe was also delighted with the spirit shown against another strong contender to go all the way.
“A lot of really good things were evident in the game,” Keefe said. “It’s not an easy team to play against and I really liked how we stuck with our game.”
We just feel Toronto are a more battle-hardened outfit and better equipped to come through tight tussles – they did win 2-1 when these teams met in November.
Let’s finish off our NHL predictions for this match by taking 11.0 for a 3-2 away win, with overtime and a shootout included if necessary.
Additional stats
Last result:
CALGARY 6-0 Vegas
TORONTO 4-3 Carolina (OT)
Head-to-head: Toronto 2-1 Calgary
