NHL Hockey: Phoenix Coyotes at Calgary Flames – Flames Favored
90% of Bets Placed on Calgary -290 | Matchup | Goalies
Jarome Iginla appears to be heating up for the Calgary Flames. That’s very good news for a team that has dropped into third place in the Northwest Division.
Iginla and the Flames look to win their league-best 26th home game Monday night when they face the Phoenix Coyotes for the second time in five days.
Oddsmakers have made Calgary -290 money line (NHL Odds) favorites for todays game, the over/under has been set at 5.5 total
goals (View NHL Sports Books).
Since collecting points in seven straight games (5-0-2), the Flames are 3-4-3 in their last 10 contests to fall behind Vancouver and Minnesota in the Northwest.
One of those three wins, however, came Saturday as Iginla scored two goals and assisted on two others in a 7-4 victory over visiting San Jose.
Daymond Langkow added a pair of goals for the Flames (32-21-9), who improved to 25-6-1 at home, including 11-1-1 in their last 13 there. Calgary knocked off the top road team in the Western Conference.
Continuing to win at home with regularity is imperative for Calgary, which has lost seven in a row (0-3-4) on the road.
"Obviously, we’re not playing the way we’d like to on the road, so it’s important that we keep playing strong at home where we’ve been a confident bunch all year," said left wing Alex Tanguay, who had three assists.
Despite missing most of January with a left knee injury, Iginla leads the Flames with 30 goals and 71 points.
Iginla, with six goals and seven assists in his last seven games, scored his 315th career goal Saturday, moving him past Joe Nieuwendyk into second place on the Flames’ all-time list. The leader is Theo Fleury (364).
"It feels good," said Iginla, traded from Dallas to the Flames for Nieuwendyk on Dec. 19, 1995. "Joe had an amazing career with so many 50-goal seasons. I have been fortunate to play this long in Calgary. It took me a lot longer to get to this point than Joe."
Iginla has been particularly good against the Coyotes, recording three goals and two assists in three games this season, and 14 goals and five assists in his last 12 meetings with them.
Phoenix (26-32-3) will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season and hasn’t done very well lately in the role of spoiler.
The Coyotes had lost a season-high six straight before captain Shane Doan scored 54 seconds into overtime Thursday, giving them a 3-2 victory over the Flames.
"We got desperate," said Doan, who reached 20 goals for the sixth straight season. "We played more desperate at the end because we needed to find a way to win."
One of many problem areas this season for the Coyotes has been a power play that ranks 29th in the NHL. Phoenix is scoreless in its last 22 chances with the man advantage over five games.
Top defenseman Ed Jovanovski sat out Thursday’s win with an abdominal muscle injury and will not play Monday.
The Flames won the first two meetings with the Coyotes this season by a combined 12-4 score, and had taken four straight in the series before Thursday’s defeat. Calgary has won five of six at home against Phoenix.
by: Gary Roberts – theSpread.com – Email Us
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