| The Battle of Alberta will be renewed tonight as the Calgary Flames visit the Edmonton Oilers in a clash of Northwest division rivals.
The teams have alternated wins and losses over the past five meetings, with the Oilers edging the Flames 2-1 in their last game on Jan. 13. Over the past 10 head-to-head, Calgary has a slight advantage, going 6-4 SU.
Calgary (26-18-8) outshot the Dallas Stars 32-24 on Saturday, but lost 2-1 as -160 home favorites. The score was under the total of 5½. The Stars had a very successful road swing through Alberta, as they also beat Edmonton 4-1 on Friday. The Oilers (23-26-5) went down as 115 home underdogs. The score was a push with the total of 5.
Curtis Joseph gets his first start of the 2007-08 season after the Flames signed the free-agent goalie to a one-year, $1.5 million pro-rated contract last month. The 40-year-old appeared in 58 games last season with the Phoenix Coyotes and posted an 18-31-2 record with a 3.19 goals against average, .893 save percentage and four shutouts. Edmonton netminder Mathieu Garon is listed as a probable starter for the Oilers.
Over/under bettors should take note of a significant “Under” trend – The total has gone Under in 18 of the past 24 meetings, in eight of the past nine meetings in Edmonton, and in eight of Edmonton's past 11 overall at home.
BETTING LINE: Calgary is a -135 moneyline favorite at BetOnline.com, and the over/under total is 5.
BETTING CONSENSUS: About 54 per cent of bettors are backing a Calgary win. |
