Betway Bets of the Day: Calgary Flames vs. Florida Panthers

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Welcome to the Betway Bets of the Day! Every single game day we are going to provide you with some recommended bets while also showing the value behind placing said bets.

It should come as no surprise that the Panthers are extremely offensive and score multitudes of goals every single game. They sit in the leagues top 5 in terms of expected goal percentage with the Golden Knights, Devils, Bruins, and Hurricanes whereas Calgary is down in 12th, a full 5% back of the Panthers.

With how Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin have played defensively as a pair combined with the Flames playing their 4th line on a regular shift is not a good recipe for success against this team. Huberdeau being at 18:30+ while riding over a 55% xG share on the 6 game road trip should be a no-brainer. Until this coaching staff wants to divert from their usual plan Calgary will continue to struggle against teams with natural chemistry.

Dan Vladar appears to be starting, and he’s had more consistent play than Markstrom so far – albeit in just 5 starts. I’m thinking this is a one or two goal win for the Panthers in the 4-2 or 5-3 range.

That’s a lot of shots but the Flames just have not been able to defend properly lately. Tanev is always carrying a weaker link and, as mentioned above, Hanifin and Andersson have been significantly bad in terms of defensive impact this year. Nothing is changing in Calgary – no call ups, trades, or reinforcement of any kind – so the struggle continuing would not be a shocker.

Last time they played we went with Tkachuk as an anytime goal scorer and it hit – tonight on a very familiar rink i think he does more. He’s one of the smartest players in the NHL and is out to prove Florida did in fact get the best player in the trade. MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau will try and prove the opposite, but i doubt Tkachuk’s impact comes while they are out there. All Florida has to do is line match him up when Lucic and his line go out and it’s almost as big of an advantage as a power play.

He just had a fantastic road trip despite the team going 2-3-1 and now being back at home can hopefully implement a more serious attack. If he doesn’t get any support from other lines he’s going to have to constantly dig himself out of his own zone which will limit offence. If Calgary could roll lines and have some extended offensive zone attack they certainly have the talent to win – but the structure Sutter mentions all the time is failing them. The players – outside of Huberdeau, Backlund, Weegar, and Zadorov – need to give more for them to have a chance.