Philadelphia Flyers vs Vancouver Canucks NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/15/21

The Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers meet Friday in NHL action at the Wells Fargo Center. The Vancouver Canucks look for a win after losing their opener to the Oilers. The Philadelphia Flyers won 25 games last year and enter the third season under coach Alain Vigneault.

The Vancouver Canucks are averaging two goals per game and are scoring on 20 percent of their power play opportunities. Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads Vancouver with one goal, Nils Hoglander has two assists and Elias Pettersson has six shots on goal. Defensively, the Vancouver Canucks are allowing two goals per game and are killing 50 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Thatcher Demko has given up two goals on 34 shots faced.

The Philadelphia Flyers made a lot of changes this off season, which includes trading for Ryan Ellis and Cam Atkinson, while signing Martin Jones, Nate Thompson, Derick Brassard and Keith Yandle. The Flyers should be fine offensively, especially with the return of Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk, but it’s the goaltending that raises the red flags. Carter Hart was the worst goalie in the league last season with an 87.7 save percentage and a 3.67 goals against average. To make matters worse, the newly signed Jones wasn’t all that better, with his 89.6 save percentage and 3.28 goals against averaged. The Flyers are taking a serious shot in the dark with those two goaltenders leading the way, and it will either make or break this season. Bounce back years from Jones and Hart, and the Flyers could make a run for a division title and make the postseason for a fifth time since the 2012-13 season.

The Canucks are 1-4 in their last 5 road games and 4-12 in their last 16 overall. The Flyers are 5-11 in their last 16 home games and 5-0 in their last 5 vs. Western Conference. The under is 5-2-1 in Canucks last 8 overall. The over is 3-1-1 in Flyers last 5 home games. The Canucks are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings in Philadelphia.

The Vancouver Canucks fought hard in their season opener, and it was encouraging, but they’ve been on the wrong side of games a lot dating back to last season. The Philadelphia Flyers have serious goal tending question marks, and it’s going to be interesting to see if it works. Regardless of how you look at things, the Flyers are the better team on paper, and the home team has won seven of the last 10 meetings between Philly and the Canucks. The price is reasonable. Give me the Flyers at home.