Vegas Golden Knights (40-29-5) vs. Calgary Flames (45-19-9)
April 14, 2022 9:00 pm EDT
The Line: Calgary Flames -161 / Vegas Golden Knights +140; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Calgary Flames meet in NHL action from the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday night.
The Vegas Golden Knights will look to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last four games after a 5-4 OT loss to Vancouver last time out. Jonathan Marchessault leads Vegas with 60 points with a team-high 28 goals this year while Chandler Stephenson has 57 points with 17 goals and a team-high 40 assists. Shea Theodore’s got 44 points with 31 assists of his own this season. Reilly Smith’s also got 38 points with 16 goals and 22 apples. Alex Pietrangelo also has 41 points with 13 goals and 28 assists. Robin Lehner’s seen the bulk of the action between the pipes for Vegas, going 23-16-2 with a 2.82 GAA and a .907 save percentage this season.
The Calgary Flames will try to build on their current five-game win streak after a 5-3 win over Seattle last time out. Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames in scoring with 101 points including a team-high 67 assists while Elias Lindholm has 74 points with 36 assists and 38 goals with Gaudreau posting a +56 plus/minus rating while Lindholm also has a +53 rating. Matthew Tkachuk has 37 goals and 55 assists for his 92 points while Andrew Mangiapane has 49 points and 31 goals of his own. Jacob Markstrom’s gone 34-14-8 with a 2.19 GAA and a .924 save percentage up to this point in the season in goal for Calgary.
Vegas is 4-0 in their last 4 games played on 1 day’s rest and 0-5 in their last 5 games as a road underdog while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Calgary is 5-0 in their last 5 division games and 4-0 in their last 4 games following a win while the uner is 7-1-1 in their last 9 games played on 1 day’s rest.
I get why you could consider the Flames at home here being favored. However, the Flames are just backpedalling into the playoffs right now, while Vegas needs the wins to keep their playoff hopes alive and is frankly playing the better hockey right now by a fair margin. I think there’s value to be had with Vegas and the plus money here.
