The 2nd place (Northwest) Calgary Flames will be looking to win their fourth straight game on Thursday night when they take on the 3rd place (Pacific) Phoenix Coyotes in a game that can be seen on RSNW with a scheduled start time of 9:00pm EST. Online sportsbooks have listed the Coyotes as a -135 home favorite in NHL predictions while the Flames are listed as +115 underdogs with an over/under betting total of 5.5 UNDER (-125).
The Canadian line also favors Phoenix -1.5 (+225) at home with Calgary +1.5 (-265) for the game at Jobing Arena. Heading into tonight's game as hockey betting favorites in NHL odds, the Coyotes have gone 34-23-11 this season with 79-points and have only gone 1-4-2 in their last seven games. Phoenix fell to the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime at home on Tuesday as +110 underdogs in NHL predictions to fall from the top of the Pacific Division and will now need to fight for a spot in the playoffs.
In defense of the Coyotes, they were without the talents of Ray Whitney, Martin Hanzal, Derek Morris, Ed Jovanovski and Rostislav Klesla who are day-to-day with injuries and are expected to be on the sidelines for tonight's hockey betting match-up vs the Flames. Calgary on the other hand, will be skating on the floor tonight as road underdogs in NHL odds despite having won three straight games including a 4-3 shoot-out victory at the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night. Calgary won outright to cover the spread as +100 underdogs in NHL predictions and move to 36-24-9 on the season.
The Flames have slowly moved up the ranking of the Western conference and could take sole possession of fourth place with a win against Phoenix tonight but have only gone 2-6 in their eight attempts. Although many sports betting handicappers are pitching the favored Coyotes since Calgary have gone a miserable 0-4 at Jobing Arena, Calgary is riding a wave of momentum and seem to be finding their stride at the right time. Tonight's game might not be an exciting high-scoring one but it should show if the Flames will have what it takes to make the playoffs.