NHL Latest Line: Washington vs. Calgary Betting Odds

There are just two games on the NHL slate Monday and the one nationally televised by the NHL Network features Washington making its lone visit of the season to Calgary. Both are trying to stay in the wild card chase.

MyBookie NHL Expert Analysis Washington vs Calgary | NHL Week 23

How to Bet Capitals at Flames NHL Hockey Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 8:30 PM ET
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: NHL Network
Stream: NHL.com/tv
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NHL Lines: Flames -135 (total 1.5)

Washington vs. Calgary Season Series

The teams met in D.C. way back on Oct. 16 and the Capitals won 3-2 in a shootout. Washington’s Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the only goal in the shootout to cap the Caps’ rally from down 2-0 in the first, making up for two ill-advised penalties he took earlier in the night. The Capitals were outshot 40-23, including 18-3 in the first period alone after giving up the game’s first 13 before registering one. But Kuemper was sharp throughout, including a stop on a penalty shot by Blake Coleman with 14 minutes remaining in the third. Jacob Markstrom allowed two goals on 23 shots to fall to 1-8-2 against the Caps during his career.

Why Bet on Washington Capitals?

The Capitals are 2-2 on a five-game road trip after a 2-1 upset victory in Vancouver on Saturday. Alex Ovechkin had the game-winner, his third game-winning goal of the season. He’s up to 19 goals, 50 points, 220 shots on net, 122 hits and a minus-21 rating through 63 contests overall. Ovi has seven points over eight outings in March.

Capitals Last 5

@ Canucks – W 2-1

@ Kraken – W 2-1

@ Oilers – L 7-2

@ Jets – L 3-0

vs Blackhawks – W 4-1

Ovechkin is now 53 goals behind Wayne Gretzky (894) for a share of the NHL’s all-time goals record and 8 behind record holder Jaromir Jagr (135) for the most game-winning goals of all time. With one more tally, Ovechkin will also have the 19th 20-goal season of his career. Since riding a camel during the Capitals’ bye week, Ovechkin has 10 goals in his last 19 games.

”(The Canucks) had a little push to start, but other than that everyone worked extremely, extremely hard tonight and really poured their heart out so it was a character win for us,” Washington’s T.J. Oshie said. “This team just keeps finding a way. Our character keeps shining through and finding ways to just keep this thing alive, so it’s fun right now.” It was the 1,000th game of Oshie’s career.

Tom Wilson had the other Washington goal. The winger hadn’t scored in three games since he sat out one contest with an upper-body injury. For the season, he’s up to 16 goals, 29 points, 145 shots on net, 192 hits, 62 blocked shots, 116 PIM and a minus-19 rating through 64 appearances in a top-six role.

Rookie Ivan Miroshnichenko recorded his first NHL assist in the win. Miro has now played in 10 games this season which means the Capitals have burned the first year on his three-year, entry-level contract. Blueliner Alex Alexeyev started the play that led to the game-winner and with him on the ice at five-on-five the Capitals held positive differentials in scoring chances (+4) and high-danger chances (+3).

Charlie Lindgren stopped 21 of 22 shots in the win. Lindgren has won five of his last seven appearances, allowing a total of 12 goals in that span. The 30-year-old gave up a tally to Brock Boeser early in the first period before shutting the door the rest of the way. Lindgren improved to 17-11-5 with a 2.61 GAA and a .914 save percentage through 35 appearances.

The Capitals earned their sixth road win since the NHL All-Star break – tied for the third most over that span behind only the Predators (8), Stars (7) and Panthers (7).

Bet Washington to Win
NHL Daily Lines

Week 34 NHL Hockey Lines Odds Subject to Change	SPREAD	MONEYLINE	TOTAL
Flames	-0.5	-135	O 1.5
Capitals	+0.5	+105	U 1.5

Why Bet on Calgary Flames?

The Flames won their second game in a row Saturday, 5-2 over Montreal. Mikael Backlund scored two goals and added an assist. Backlund started the game by potting back-to-back goals, his 14th and 15th on the season, to give the Flames the early lead. He added an assist on the fifth and final goal while also adding three shots, one hit and a plus-3 rating in 18:06 of ice time.

Flames Last 5

vs Canadiens – W 5-2

vs Golden Knights – W 4-1

vs Avalanche – L 6-2

@ Hurricanes – L 7-2

@ Panthers – L 5-1

Backlund became the second Swedish-born skater in franchise history to reach 200 career goals, joining Kent Nilsson (229). The Flames captain also became the 11th player in franchise history with 200 goals. Backlund is the 11th player in Flames history to score 200 goals. He has 21 multigoal games in the NHL.

“I’ve put in a lot of work in my life to get to the NHL and to be able to score 200 goals, it’s very special,” Backlund said. “I got close there in early January scoring 196 and 197 or something like that. It seemed to take forever to get to 200, so it feels really good to get it. Special to get all the goals here in Calgary, too. Some good company here in the organization’s history.”

Nazem Kadri scored a power-play goal on seven shots and had an assist. Kadri has two goals and six assists over eight games in March. The 33-year-old center is up to 23 tallies, 59 points (14 on the power play), 219 shots on net and a plus-4 rating over 67 contests. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar notched three assists and is having a career season with 39 points.

Winger Yegor Sharangovich notched a power-play assist. Sharangovich has been productive in March with seven goals and four assists over eight contests. Just two of those 11 points have come on the power play. The 25-year-old reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career. He’s at 28 goals, 22 assists, 147 shots on net, 40 blocked shots and a minus-13 rating over 67 appearances. Sharangovich on Monday can become the sixth player to score at least 30 goals in his first season with the Flames franchise. Only Michael Cammalleri (39 in 2008-09) and Hakan Loob (30 in 1983-84) have done so in the past 40 years.

Flames forward A.J. Greer had two hits and one blocked shot in 8:30 of ice time in his return after missing 18 games because of a fractured foot. Dustin Wolf was in net for the second straight game and made 36 saves. Wolf has won consecutive games for the first time in the NHL.

“I’m just trying to take advantage of every opportunity I get right now, and two wins in a row is pretty crucial for our group,” said Wolf, up from the AHL’s Wranglers due to an injury to Jacob Markstrom. “I think every time you get to play more minutes, you feel more and more comfortable. I saw a lot of rubber tonight, so it got me into the game pretty quick. And we put up five, so it makes my life pretty easy back there.”

Bet Calgary to Win
NHL Daily Lines

Washington vs. Calgary Expert Prediction

Flames 4, Capitals 2

Stanley Cup Odds to Win Championship – Top 10

Florida Panthers +700	Edmonton Oilers +700
Colorado Avalanche +750	Carolina Hurricanes +750
New York Rangers +950	Dallas Stars +1000
Boston Bruins +1000	Vancouver Canucks +1100
Vegas Golden Knights +1100	Winnipeg Jets +1400