How to bet on the Flames: Props, totals and parlays

The Calgary Flames have rebounded in Year 2 of Darryl Sutter’s second tenure with the club.

They are solid all around and have a fearsome offence powered by Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Add it all up and it makes the Flames a fun and profitable team to bet on.

For those unsure of how to bet on the Flames, we’re here to help. We’ll review some of the different options available to you in this Calgary betting guide.

There’s no shortage of options when it comes to betting on the Flames. But there are a number of different factors you should focus on that may ultimately influence what you decide to bet on — whether that’s the Flames moneyline or a Gaudreau scoring prop.

Those factors include the opponent, location, trends, injuries and the odds.

We’ll explore some of the most popular betting markets provided by sportsbooks and offer advice on how to place the best wagers.

A moneyline (ML) bet is the most straightforward wager you can make on a hockey game. This type of bet involves picking the straight-up winner of a game. You will win your moneyline bet if you correctly pick who comes out on top. The margin of victory or whether the contest ends in regulation, overtime, or a shootout doesn’t matter.

The favourite for the game will have a minus (-) symbol in front of its odds and the underdog will be denoted with a plus (+) symbol.

Calgary will find itself in the favourite role more often than not. In a home game against the Edmonton Oilers, for example, the Flames would be favoured. Calgary would also be favoured if it hosted the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames would likely be listed as an underdog, however, in a road tilt versus the Vegas Golden Knights.

The odds for each of those hypothetical games would look something like this:

Oilers (+160) vs. Flames (-180)
Canucks (+170) vs. Flames (-200)
Flames (+150) vs. Knights (-170)

Those odds tell us a few things, including who the favourite and underdog is. It also tells us what the operator believes each of those teams’ chances of winning is in addition to how much you could profit on a successful bet.

-180 (64.29% implied win probability): A $180 bet would win $100.
-200 (66.67% implied win probability): A $200 bet would win $200.
+150 (40% implied win probability): A $100 bet would win $150.

The Golden Knights contest is the game that makes the most sense to place a moneyline wager on.

Although Calgary’s chances of winning are deemed lowest in that example, a 40% implied win probability is not a long-shot pick by any means. The ROI is strong, too, as it would require a $100 wager to profit $150.

A moneyline bet may also be in consideration for the Oilers game, as the implied win probability is fairly high and staking $180 to win $100 isn’t the worst. Though it is admittedly creeping into low-value territory.

We wouldn’t recommend an ML bet in the Canucks game. Staking $200 to win $100 isn’t a great bet to make. Therefore, in either of those contests, it may be a better opportunity to bet on the Flames puck line.