Flames vs Blue Jackets

With both teams entering on modest one-game win streaks after halting separate four-game losing streaks (Calgary’s 2-1 grind in Pittsburgh and Columbus’ 3-2 OT rally in Utah), the moneyline tilt favors the Blue Jackets at home despite slightly less rest. Calgary’s forward group is dinged up with Blake Coleman listed day-to-day and depth center John Beecher on injured reserve, while Columbus is missing Miles Wood and Isac Lundestrom but still has its primary creators—Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, and workhorse Zach Werenski—available to drive a top-20 offense that scores more than the Flames’ bottom-tier attack. Last season these clubs split the series with the home side winning both, including a 5-2 Blue Jackets win at Nationwide and a 3-0 Flames response in Calgary powered by goals from Rasmus Andersson, Kevin Bahl, and Yegor Sharangovich, reinforcing how valuable home ice has been in this matchup. With both teams past the 41-game mark and sitting on the playoff bubble (Columbus slightly ahead in points and needing to make a push in the East, Calgary chasing from the lower half of the West), I like the Jackets’ better scoring profile and home advantage enough to grade Columbus -150 as an A- moneyline play, even acknowledging their defensive leaks and Calgary’s improved goaltending. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 13/01/2026 09:40

Both teams’ recent form points toward a tighter, lower-event script than the market suggests: Calgary just snapped its funk with a 2-1 win in Pittsburgh after three straight games with only a single goal, and Columbus’ skid-ending 3-2 OT victory in Utah came on the heels of offensive struggles and a shutout loss in Colorado. The Flames’ defensive profile and special teams support an Under lean, as they sit in the league’s better half in goals against and boast a strong penalty kill, and even with day-to-day absences for Blake Coleman and rookie blueliner Zayne Parekh, their structure has traveled better than their scoring in a 7-15-2 road campaign. Columbus pushes pace with a top-five shot rate and a middling power play that finally broke an 0-for-17 drought in Utah, but the Jackets still deal with finishing inconsistency, and they’re now up against a Calgary group that already blanked them 3-0 last season when Andersson, Bahl, and Sharangovich carried the scoring. Given that both clubs have crossed the halfway point of the schedule and are fighting to stay in the playoff picture, these points should be contested cautiously, making Under 6 at 100 a B+ play that benefits from a likely 3-2 style game while accepting some risk from Columbus’ high-event tendencies. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 13/01/2026 09:40

The combination of recent one-goal grinders and Calgary’s defensive tilt makes taking the underdog Flames at +1.5 on the puckline appealing, even while I favor Columbus on the moneyline. Calgary has already shown in this matchup that it can lock things down with last season’s 3-0 home win over Columbus, and it just held a hot Penguins team to one goal behind strong goaltending and a disciplined penalty kill, traits that tend to keep games inside a single goal on the road. Columbus, for its part, has been inconsistent at creating separation—its recent four-game losing streak included multi-goal defeats but was immediately followed by a narrow 3-2 OT win in Utah—and injuries to depth forwards Miles Wood and Isac Lundestrom further thin out the bottom six that would normally help grind out larger margins. With both teams through 45 games and facing heightened playoff urgency, I expect Calgary’s structure, plus the offensive flashes from Nazem Kadri, Yegor Sharangovich, and Connor Zary that recently surfaced again in Pittsburgh, to keep this within a goal often enough to justify a B grade on Flames +1.5 at -188, even at the heavier juice. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 13/01/2026 09:40