Oilers vs Flames: Prediction, Team News and Canadian Odds

Calgary has won four in a row and every one of them was at the Saddledome. This is the first road test of that run, and it comes at Rogers Place, where Edmonton has just conceded eleven goals in two games with its best goaltender on injured reserve. The call, the team news and the Canadian odds follow.

How to watch

Regional listings can differ from the national one, and blackouts apply in parts of Canada. Our how to watch the NHL in Canada page sets out the options.

Oilers vs Flames odds

No Canadian book had this one priced when the page went up. Hockey lines tend to land the night before or on the morning of the game, and the NHL odds page carries them as they arrive.

Calgary’s four-game run is entirely home form

The Flames are 5-6-0 and twenty-sixth, with a goal difference of minus thirteen. They have also beaten Carolina 3-2, Minnesota 2-1, Detroit 4-1 and Toronto 5-2 in their last four, and all four were at the Saddledome.

The split underneath that run is severe. Across those four games Calgary scored fourteen and conceded six. Across the other seven they scored fourteen and conceded thirty-five. Almost the whole of the minus thirteen was built before 18 October.

Their last road game was a 6-2 defeat at Vegas on 15 October, thirteen days before this one. Devin Cooley has carried the run at .915 across six starts and a 4-2-0 record, against Dustin Wolf’s .834. Only two players are out, which on this card is worth as much as the form.

How they compare

Edmonton finished sixteen points clear of Calgary last season and scored most of a goal a game more. The gap on the power play was fourteen points, 30.6 per cent against 16.2, and special teams have decided more Battles of Alberta than either club would like to admit.

Edmonton has lost two straight at home and is without Levi

The Oilers are 8-2-2 and third, with the joint-best attack in the league at fifty-two goals. The last two at Rogers Place were a 7-2 defeat by Toronto and a 4-3 shootout loss to Detroit, so eleven goals went in across them.

Devon Levi is on injured reserve until around 9 November. He was 6-1-0, which is to say he won most of the games that put Edmonton third. That leaves Tristan Jarry, 2-1-2 with a .869, and Matt Tomkins, who has not started this season. Frederik Andersen is out until late December.

Eight players are listed. Mattias Ekholm is gone until 31 October, Jason Dickinson until 28 October, Matt Savoie until late November and Mattias Janmark until late November. Connor McDavid leads the NHL on thirty-four points, ten clear of the field. Leon Draisaitl is second on twenty-four and scored twice on Saturday.

Calgary has taken three of the last five, and two needed extra time

Calgary leads the all-time series 158 wins to 153 across 311 meetings, which is about as close as a rivalry this old gets. They have won three of the last five, including a shootout at Rogers Place last October.

Those five produced 7, 5, 6, 7 and 5 goals, an average of 6.0, and two of them went past sixty minutes. Edmonton’s last four at home produced 11, 7, 9 and 7. The series says tight, the building says otherwise, and that is the whole argument over the total.

Team news

Who starts in goal is an open question. Calgary Flames has split between Cooley (6 starts, .915) and Wolf (5, .834), and Edmonton Oilers has split between Jarry (5 starts, .869) and Tomkins (0, no starts). A save percentage is a season aggregate rather than a lineup, so treat either name as a possibility and not a plan.

Our NHL injury report tracks every other club.

Players to watch

Connor McDavid, Edmonton. Thirty-four points in twelve games, ten clear of the next man. That is why a club with this goaltending sits third.

Devin Cooley, Calgary. A .915 across six starts and the goaltender behind all four wins in the run.

Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton. Twelve goals, two of them in Saturday’s defeat, which is the shape of Edmonton’s season in one line.

Score prediction

Edmonton Oilers 4-3 Calgary Flames. Edmonton is third and at home, and this series keeps finishing within a goal.

Oilers vs Flames prediction

Edmonton is the side we would take, without the comfort the table suggests. They have McDavid, the best attack in the league and home ice, and Calgary is twenty-sixth on a goal difference of minus thirteen.

The case for Calgary is the crease and the run. Cooley at .915 is a hundred points clear of Jarry at .869, Levi is on injured reserve, and Edmonton has conceded eleven in two at home. What that case needs is for four games of home form to travel, and Calgary has not won on the road since 13 October. Our lean: Edmonton, and the over if the total sits at 6 or lower. The series averages 6.0, Edmonton’s last four at home averaged 8.5, and neither goaltender in this game is above .870.

Our NHL power rankings has all 32 in order, and the rest of Wednesday’s games is on the NHL schedule.

19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). Picks are opinion, not advice, and odds change constantly. Availability varies by province. Please play responsibly. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600 for Ontario residents; see your province’s helpline for resources elsewhere.