NHL Betting Odds - Flames, Red Wings will be road warriors
Saturday’s NHL betting odds can’t help but make me feel nostalgic. Seeing a Flames/Kings matchup and knowing it’s a “big game” at the sportsbook makes me feel like it’s 20 years ago and we’re about to watch Gretzky, Robitaille, MacInnis and Fleury. It’s the truth – the Kings are relevant in hockey again. Their matinee with Calgary is one of two matchups we're highlighting.
| NHL betting odds: Calgary great on the road; Detroit great in general |
| Flames have best road record in the Western Conference |
| After losing 7-1 to Chicago on Thursday, Flames hungry for redemption |
| Detroit will capitalize on Habs’ lack of offense |
Flames vs Kings odds
Saturday, November 21, 4:00 p.m. ET
There’s no doubt the Kings are making major strides toward returning to the playoffs this season; Anze Kopitar leads the NHL in scoring and his supporting cast, including Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, is full of big, tough forecheckers. Drew Doughty is also emerging as a true leader on the back end. However, lately it seems the Kings are better at preying on the weak and not so great against tough competition. The Flames certainly qualify as the latter and it’s possible that the young Kings will lack some direction after losing veteran Ryan Smyth to an upper-body injury.
It’s also worth noting that the Flames were absolutely humiliated 7-1 by the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night in their own building. They’ll have a chip on their shoulder Saturday and Brent Sutter is too good of a coach to not get an improved effort out of his boys. Better yet, Calgary has the NHL’s second-best road record at 6-1-2. The Flames are rock-solid sports betting picks against the Kings.
Flames vs Kings betting edge: Flames
Red Wings vs Canadiens odds
Saturday, November 21, 7:00 p.m. ET
With no consecutive wins this month (entering Friday’s tilt with Washington), the Canadiens would love an Original-Six victory over the surging Red Wings on home ice this Saturday night. Interestingly, for as much pressure as Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak face between the pipes in media-crazy Montreal, both goalies have played pretty well of late. The Habs’ problem is mounting a consistent offense; their 48 goals for rank 26th in the NHL. Through 21 games ,only two Canadiens have more than four goals. One of those two – Brian Gionta – is now out of the lineup with a broken foot. If Montreal’s supporting players can’t muster some offense, the Habs’ NHL betting odds won’t be reliable going forward.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, are heating up after a slow start to the season. Despite losing several key scorers to free agency and battling an endless rash of injuries so far in 2009-10, the Wings are showing their NHL betting odds will almost always be useful for bettors, going 5-2 in November. They’re still not getting great goaltending from Chris Osgood but Henrik Zetterberg is carrying the team on his shoulders and Niklas Kronwall continues to develop into a workhorse defenseman.
With Chris Osgood recovering from the flu, Jimmy Howard should get the nod in goal on Saturday. He’s won three of his last four starts and shouldn’t have much trouble against Montreal’s popgun attack.
Go with the hotter, more confident squad and pick Detroit in your NHL betting.
Red Wings vs Canadiens betting edge: Red Wings
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