Markus Granlund and the Calgary Flames are surprising many with their hot start to the season. (Photo credit: 5of7 / Foter / CC BY-SA)
The 16-8-1-1 Calgary Flames are starting to believe in themselves as playoff contenders, and oddsmakers might be, too.
The Flames won their seventh game in their last nine Tuesday, dumping the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 in Calgary. The Flames were -160 favourites in that game, the most they’ve been favoured this season.
Just three weeks earlier, Calgary was a -140 favourite at home over the same Coyotes squad.
Obviously, perception of the Flames is changing.
“I don’t think we get enough credit for the skill level we have on this hockey club,” Calgary coach Bob Hartley told the Calgary Herald’s Kristen Odland recently. “You look at our D-men and the way we’re moving the puck. You look at all of our players, we can make some plays. We’re scoring some nice goals. Last year, we kind of surprised the league with the way we worked. That tag kind of was sticking to us.
“And that’s no problem … but it’s nice to have the talent we have.”
Over their first 26 games of the NHL betting season, the Flames have been favoured just seven times. Twice against the Coyotes, twice against the Hurricanes, and once each at home against the Lightning, Canadiens and Devils.
They’ve been underdogs of +140 or higher 10 times. They’ve cashed as dogs of +143 (Nashville), +239 (Chicago), +155 (Montreal), +147 (Washington) and +173 (San Jose).
It’ll be interesting to see if the Flames will continue to get those high prices against elite teams in the future, or if oddsmakers will continue to adjust the NHL betting odds on Calgary like they did for the games against Arizona.