Welcome to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. Today we’re looking at the Calgary Flames against the Dallas Stars. Be sure to check out more NHL predictions every day there’s hockey this 2024-25 season.
NHL Predictions
Calgary Flames (13-9-5) vs Dallas Stars (16-10-0)
Time: 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
TV: ESPN+, Sportsnet; Victory
2023-24 Head-toHead: Calgary won 2-1
The Flames and the Stars will play for the first time this season. Last year Calgary surprisingly won two of their three matchups. The Dallas Stars made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season, before losing to the Edmonton Oilers. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames missed the playoffs and started a rebuild. Heading into the season these two teams appeared to be on different trajectories. However, the Flames currently sit just one point behind the Stars in the Western Conference standings. Let’s dive into how each team is playing heading ahead of tonight’s matchup.
Flames Look To Improve On The Road
The Calgary Flames currently find themselves sitting in a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, largely due to their success on home ice. The Flames have an impressive 10-3-1 home-ice record. However, tonight they head to Dallas and look to improve on their 3-6-4 record. Calgary’s last road trip saw them playing some of their worst hockey of the season. Through the first quarter of the season, the Flames have shown they can compete against some of the best teams in the league. However, in order to compete the Flames have to bring their best effort and play a tight grinding style.
Calgary’s biggest issue is their lack of top-end talent and goalscoring. When the Flames don’t bring their best effort, they don’t have anyone on the roster who can score an easy goal to give them a lead or erase a mistake. Calgary has to battle for everything they get. This means Calgary has to bring their best effort to win. So far the Flames have been able to bring this effort most nights, however, we’ve seen it a lot less on the road. Calgary will need to rely on their goaltending to keep tonight’s game close and hope their power play can continue to produce to help them score just enough to win.
Dallas To Stay Strong At Home
Similar to Calgary Dallas has been extremely good on home ice. Currently sporting a 10-2 record at the American Airlines Center. The Stars are dealing with the news that they’ve lost star forward Tyler Seguin to a significant hip injury. Seguin currently sits third in scoring for Dallas. The Stars will look to their young players to help fill the void. Rookie Logan Stankoven will get an opportunity on the Stars’ second line alongside Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment. The loss of Seguin isn’t inconsequential, but this shouldn’t affect the Stars defensively.
Dallas is currently the third-best team in the league in goals against. The Stars have one of the best goalies in the league, Jake Oettinger. His consistency paired with a well-coached and seasoned team means Dallas is rarely out of a game. This team knows what it takes to win in the NHL and they are once against building towards a long playoff run.
NHL Predictions Flames and Stars
The Calgary Flames continue to prove doubters wrong and find ways to win games. However, their inability to score goals easily and their poor road record make this an incredibly difficult matchup.
The Dallas Stars are one of the best teams in the NHL. They’re goaltending and defensive play means that even if they see a slight drop in offence with the loss of Seguin, they’ll still have an opportunity to win most nights. With a team in Calgary that has played poorly on the road and struggles to score, it’s almost impossible to imagine the Flames winning in Dallas tonight. Expect Dallas to win tonight, and possibly make it look easy.
Prediction: Stars win 4-2
Prop Bets of The Night
We’re expecting Dallas to win this one by more than one goal and BET365 has Dallas to win by more that 1.5 goals at +215.
Main photo by: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
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