Frank Lorenzo
Anaheim Ducks (-108) at Calgary Flames (-102, 5.5 o/u)
A pivotal Pacific Division showdown is on tap for tonight as the Anaheim Ducks travel to Calgary to face the Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome (9:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Ducks have been struggling over the recent games, winning only three of their last ten. They still have an eight-point cushion at the top of the division and are nine points clear of Calgary. However, the recent rough patch has left the Ducks seven back of Nashville in the race for top spot in the Western Conference.
“I don’t think anybody is very happy with what’s going on,” Duck’s coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It’s up to us. We can’t hang our heads because every other team wants to win, too. We have to pull ourselves out of this.”
Calgary comes to this game after a 3-2 loss at home against the Minnesota Wild. They haven’t dropped two games in a row since losing their first three in January.
The loss to the Wild hurt, as Minnesota is charging hard for the Western Conference Wild Card spots.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to give [the Wild] two [points], and we wanted to win that game in overtime,” Calgary defenseman Dennis Wideman said. “But to get it there and get that one point and make sure it’s not a two-point swing, that’s a positive that we can take out of it.”
Anaheim has won seven of the last ten against Calgary, scoring 3.5 goals per game. The over and under has been split five a piece. This season, Calgary won the first matchup but lost the next two, including a 6-3 setback last time they met.
Look for the high-scoring Ducks to help this game reach the over (5.5).
(Photo credit: Resolute (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
