The Calgary Flames will be playing for their jobs as they wind down their season with the first of four meetings with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night as -175 home favourites on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com (how the moneyline works).

The Flames were bounced from playoff contention during this week’s three-day layoff, as the Montreal Canadiens clinched their postseason berth with a pair of overtime losses to close out their schedule. And with the Ottawa Senators wrapping up their campaign on a winning note, Calgary finds itself in sixth place in the North Division standings going into Thursday night’s matchup at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Calgary has done little to help its own cause down the stretch. The Flames have posted wins in just two of their past five outings, scoring one or fewer goals in each of those recent defeats. Calgary showed signs of turning it around in a decisive 6-1 victory over the Senators in their last outing on Sunday, but has struggled to generate consistent results on home ice. The Flames have claimed victory in just five of their past 13 dates at the Saddledome, recording back-to-back wins on just one occasion during that stretch.

Things have not gone much better in recent dates with Vancouver. The team dropped a 5-1 decision to the Canucks in their most recent meeting in Calgary, back on February 17, and have lost two of three since opening the campaign with three straight decisive wins over Vancouver.

While the Flames matched their widest margin of victory this season in their recent win over Ottawa, they still have work to do to overcome their season-long scoring woes. Calgary ranks a distant 25th in the NHL at just 2.58 goals scored per game. That has translated into steady results on the totals with the UNDER going 4-1-0 at sports betting sites over their past five outings, and 8-3-1 over their past 12 contests.

That is a trend that could continue against the Canucks, who enter Thursday’s matchup set as +155 road underdogs. Vancouver continues its current six-game road trip on the rebound after dropping a 5-0 decision in Winnipeg on Tuesday. With that loss, the Canucks now sport a 3-9-0 record over their past 12 contests, dumping them into the basement in the North Division standings.

The Canucks’ current woeful stretch features a 2-6-0 run on the road, during which they have been outscored by a wide 30-18 overall margin. Thursday’s contest also marks Vancouver’s 15th game in 26 days, a grueling pace that has been further complicated by a rash of injuries that has sidelined the likes of Elias Pettersson and Brandon Sutter.