Calgary Flames Travel to Minnesota to Face the Wild

The Calgary Flames will head to the XCel Energy Center on Tuesday night to take on the Minnesota Wild in a non-conference matchup.

This will be the second of three games as they faced off on Saturday as well. The Wild are third in the Central Division (31-15-3), while the Flames are leading the Pacific Division (30-14-6, 66 points). 

With the likes of left wingers Kirill Kaprizov and Johnny Gaudreau on the ice against one another, this should be an interesting matchup to keep your eyes on.

Johnny Hockey Provides Offense When He Is On The Ice

Left winger Johnny Gaudreau has been dominant this season as he is tied for fifth in points and tied for third in assists with 64 points (20 goals, 44 assists) and a 39 +/-. As a team, the Flames are scoring 3.36 goals on 35.9 shot attempts a night. Calgary is 11th in the NHL with a 21.7 power play percentage, so they need to score more with the man advantage.

Calgary is currently sixth in the sport with an 84.3 penalty kill percentage this season. Defensively as a whole, the Flames are giving up 2.42 goals on 29.1 shot attempts against them per game.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been doing well in the net as he is leading the league with eight shutouts as he has a 23-11-5 with 2.11 goals and a .926 save percentage.

The Minnesota Wild has been a force offensively this season as they are averaging 3.73 goals on 32.5 shot attempts thus far. Left winger Kiril Kaprizov has been playing well as he is ninth in points and tied for eighth in the sport in assists as he has posted 62 points (23 goals, 39 assists) and has scored five points in his last five games. They do need to improve on the power play as they are tied for 16th by scoring on 20.3 percent of them this season. 

Minnesota is tied for 17th in the NHL with a kill percentage of 79.3 percent this season, so they need to improve in that aspect. As a whole, they are giving up three goals on 32.5 shot attempts against them.

Goalie Cam Talbot has struggled as he is 19-11-1 but is saving 91 percent of shots and giving up 2.94 goals per game so far. 

Betting Predictions for the Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild Game

These teams are expected to play a great game as they are neck and neck in the standings in terms of their overall records. Calgary is the better team in the power play and on the penalty kill, so that gives them a great edge in this matchup with a guy like Johnny Gaudreau dominating whenever he is on the ice.

The major difference between these teams is on the defensive side of the ice as the Flames are allowing 2.6 goals in their last five games while the Wild are giving up 3.6 goals in that same stretch of games.

The Wild have won just two of the previous seven games overall against the Flames so go with the Calgary Flames to cover the puck line in this game.

* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.