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NHL Betting – The Overwhelming and The Underwhelming in the West

Bookmark and Share by Dave Bond

Wednesday night’s game between the Flames and the Avalanche was supposed to be a matchup of one team heading for the playoffs and one struggling to remain relevant in the Western Conference. What’s odd is the fact that the Flames were supposed to be the contenders and the Avs were supposed to be the pretenders.

Calgary Flames (34-26-9) @ Colorado Avalanche (40-23-6)
9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
On: XM Satellite Radio Channel 205 and TSN (Canada)

  • The Colorado Avalanche rank 7th on offense, and average 2.9 goals per game. The Avalanche are 18.7% on the power play and have 50 power play goals.
  • The Calgary Flames rank 28th on offense, and average 2.5 goals per game. The Flames are 16.1% on the power play and have of 37 power play goals.
  • The Avalanche average 3.1 goals per game at home, and give up 2.3 goals against on defense.
  • The Flames average 2.6 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.4 goals against on defense.

Calgary Flames: -105

The Calgary Flames had a chance to leapfrog the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night but instead lost ground to the eighth place Wings with a disheartening loss at home. The trades that the Flames made recently do not appear to be paying off as demonstrated by their 5-5 record over their last 10 games. The Flames are not scoring and the power play is 0 for its last 13.

Jarome Iginla and Renee Bourque have been playing OK with their new center Matt Stajan but the rest of the team has largely been invisible. The season is not over for the Flames and if they can get on a bit of a streak and actually score a few goals, they could make up the three points that they are back in the Western Conference playoff race.

Colorado Avalanche: -115

The Colorado Avalanche moved closer to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night with a win over the St. Louis Blues. With a game in hand, they are only three points back of Vancouver and with a win on Wednesday night; they could be only one point back.

The Avs have won three straight games and are 6-4 in their last 10 games. They have been getting great performances from the usual suspects – Milan Hejduk, Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene but the real story is the play of Chris Stewart and recent trade addition Peter Meuller who had three points on Tuesday night in a win against St. Louis and has been present on the score sheet in every game since being acquired. Goaltender Craig Anderson should get the start in net again riding a 15-8 stretch in which his goals against average is a measly 2.08.

The Avs are clicking on all cylinders and will be too much for the Flames whose wind was taken on Monday. The Avalanche have won all four meetings so far this season against the Flames and I expect that to continue.

NHL Pick: Colorado Avalanche -115

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