Actually, this should probably be titled ‘The duck *doesn’t* stop here’ but that doesn’t sound as good.  The Calgary Flames head down to southern California to take on the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center tonight and we’ve got a NHL betting position on the game.  Calgary has lost five of their last six games despite playing some of their best defense of the season since the team isn’t scoring.  Anaheim lost last time out but have won five of their last six.

CALGARY FLAMES VS. ANAHEIM DUCKS

The Flames’ recent tailspin has dropped them to 7th place in the Western Conference one point ahead of 8th place Los Angeles and two points ahead of 9th place Detroit.  Their problem is pretty simple to diagnose, but less easy to fix–they’re not getting offensive production from anyone.  Even the usually dependable Jarome Iginla is in a slump.  All you need to know about the Flames’ struggles can be learned from looking at the box score of their 1-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Friday.  It’s hard to lose a game where you limit the opposing team to 1 goal on 21 shots but that’s exactly what Calgary did.  Not only are the Flames not scoring, they’re not getting shots on goal–they currently rank 28th in the 30 team NHL in shots on goal per game.

Unfortunately, they’re going to have a hard time breaking out of their scoring slump on a two game road trip.  They’ve got a game tomorrow night against San Jose, who are currently 2 points behind Chicago for the Western Conference lead.  That makes this game something of a ‘lookahead spot’ and with the Flames’ current form they’re a team that can’t afford to be looking ahead.  Ducks have dominated the series of late, winning 7 of the last 9 meetings including the last five at home.  They’ll add to the Flames’ woes tonight with a victory.

PLAY ANAHEIM -110 OVER CALGARY