For the first time since 1991, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will duke it out in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flames, who won the Pacific Division by seven points over the Oilers, are -200 favorites to win The Battle of Alberta.
And while that may seem like a steep price against an Oilers team that features an in-form Connor McDavid, it’s hard to argue with Calgary’s overall body of work this season.
The Flames finished the regular season with the best five-on-five goal differential, fourth-best expected-goals rate and fourth-best high-danger-scoring-chance rate. Calgary was an elite team all season.
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And there is a chance that the Flames’ ability to score will be undervalued in the early part of this series. Calgary is coming off a Game 7 overtime victory as a heavy favorite against the Dallas Stars, and while the series went down to the wire, there’s no arguing that Calgary dominated. The Flames just ran into one of the best goaltending performances we’ve seen in a best-of-seven series from Dallas’ Jake Oettinger.
Calgary’s scoring depth should shine through in this matchup, and with Leon Draisaitl clearly not close to 100 percent, the Flames will have too much for the Oilers, whose defense did look leaky in Round 1 against the Kings.
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The Flames are deeper, have the goaltending edge, and should be able to at least contain McDavid and force the other Oilers to beat them. That sets up some value on backing Calgary to win by multiple goals in Game 1.
Top play: Flames -1.5 (+155).
