Hockey betting favors Calgary on Thursday as they host the Dallas Stars. The Flames have been okay at home this season while Dallas has struggled on the road so it makes sense that the Flames would be the NHL betting favorite. Hockey betting has this as the second of a three-game road trip for the Stars. The one positive for Dallas is that they have won six of the last ten games against Calgary in this series. They have also won four of the last five at Calgary. The teams have met three times this season with Dallas winning two of the three including 5-2 at Calgary back in October. Five of the last seven in this series have gone under the hockey betting total.
Dallas has one of the bigger home/road dichotomies in NHL betting. The Stars have been very good on home ice but they have struggled on the road. The Stars have not even hit the double-digit mark in road wins yet this season. Dallas has an offense that is 10th in the league so they have been able to score. The defense and the goaltending has been inconsistent but Marty Turco has been playing better of late and he is capable of leading the Stars to the playoffs.
Calgary has not done as well at home this season as they should have in hockey betting. The Flames are just barely above the .500 mark at home in NHL betting and that means a losing record for those that bet on the Flames. In fact, if you factor in overtime and shootout losses, the Flames don’t even have a winning record at home in hockey betting. What you can count on with Calgary at home is that their games go under the hockey betting total. 20 of their 30 home games this season have gone under in NHL betting.
Calgary made a number of trades that are making an impact. Some of the trades don’t look very good on paper but the Flames felt they needed to do something and so far it has worked. Giving up Dion Phaneuf though is not going to be a long-term good move so the Flames better enjoy their good play recently because in the long run they are going to suffer in hockey betting. Calgary is 5th on defense but you can count on those numbers starting to fall without Phaneuf.