{"id":465015,"date":"2025-03-20T08:17:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=465015"},"modified":"2025-03-20T05:17:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T09:17:24","slug":"nhl-predictions-march-20th-calgary-flames-vs-new-jersey-devils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/03\/20\/nhl-predictions-march-20th-calgary-flames-vs-new-jersey-devils\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: March 20th Calgary Flames vs New Jersey Devils"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NHL Predictions. Each day, <\/span>Last Word on Hockey<\/span><\/em> looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. Today, we\u2019re looking at the Calgary Flames<\/a> against the New Jersey Devils. Be sure to check out more NHL predictions every day there\u2019s hockey this 2024-25 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Calgary Flames (31-25-11) vs\u00a0 New York Devils (37-26-6)\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Head-to-Head: Flames lead 1-0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Time:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a07:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/span><\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>NHL Power Play on\u00a0ESPN+\u00a0|<\/span>\u00a0H<\/span>\u00a0MSGSN2\u00a0|<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0SN1, SNE, SNO<\/span><\/p>\n

In their first matchup of the season, the Calgary Flames spoiled Jacob Markstrom<\/a>‘s return to Calgary with a 3-0 victory. At that point in the season New Jersey was off to an expected start sitting in a playoff spot in the NHL’s Metropolitan division. The Devils had cup aspirations after acquiring their franchise goaltender<\/a> from Calgary that offseason. On the other hand, the Calgary Flames were off to a surprising start to the season. They found themselves in a playoff position when many expected them to be near the bottom of the league. Heading into their final matchup of the season, the Devils are gearing up for a playoff run while the Flames are fighting for their playoff lives. Let’s dive into this head-to-head matchup and make a prediction on the likely outcome of tonight’s game.<\/p>\n

Flames Looking to String Together Wins<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Calgary Flames have been a .500 team for the majority of the season. After a hot start to the season, Calgary hasn’t sustained any significant winning streaks. The result is that Calgary sits right in the middle of the Western Conference, battling for the final playoff spot. Calgary had lost three games in a row before winning their last game against the Rangers. The result of their losing streak is that the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> have overtaken Calgary for the final Wild Card playoff in the West, and St. Louis has passed them in the standings as well. Calgary has games in hand on both those teams, but if they don’t start stringing games together soon, they’ll certainly miss the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Calgary is relying heavily on the goaltenders Dustin Wolf<\/a> and Daniel Vladar<\/a> to secure wins. The Flames rookie, Wolf has been the team’s MVP this season. Now in a backup role, Vladar has looked sharp in his starts recently including backstopping to the Flames to their recent 2-1 win over New York. Calgary will need both goaltenders to be sharp heading down the stretch as the Flames offence has proven to be one of the league’s worst. Calgary currently sits last in the league in goals for. If the Flames want to have any chance to make the playoffs they will need to keep games low-scoring and hope their offence to score at the right times.<\/p>\n

New Jersey Preparing for Playoffs\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The New Jersey Devils have demonstrated resilience in their recent performances, securing four wins in their last five games. Notably, they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on March 17th, with Jesper Bratt<\/a> and Timo Meier<\/a> each scoring, and goaltender Jake Allen<\/a> delivering an impressive 45-save performance. The Devils are getting contributions from everyone at the right time. New Jersey appears to be on a crash course for a first-round matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils are heading into the playoffs with some key injuries they’ll need to overcome.<\/p>\n

Star centre Jack Hughes<\/a> underwent shoulder surgery after an injury sustained on March 2nd,<\/a> sidelining him for the remainder of the season. Additionally, defenceman Dougie Hamilton<\/a> suffered a lower-body injury on March 4th against the Dallas Stars, leading to his absence for the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs. These injuries have forced the Devils to adjust their strategies, emphasizing depth as they prepare for the postseason.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions for the Flames vs Devils<\/h3>\n

Calgary needs to be the more desperate team tonight. Expect the Flames to come out strong looking to pressure the Devils and capitalize on early chances. Calgary will need to find ways to score to win this game. They will hope to improve on their powerplay which has struggled as of late.<\/p>\n

As noted above the Devils come into tonight’s game playing well. They’ll be the favourite against the low-scoring Flames. New Jersey should be able to match any scoring from the Flames side, and despite their key injuries, they’ll have a good chance to outlast Calgary on home ice.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Devils win 3-1<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prop Bets of the Night<\/h3>\n

If Calgary only manages one goal tonight as we’ve predicted, it’s almost a guarantee that Nazem Kadri<\/a> or Jonathan Huberdeau<\/a> are in on it. The best bet for Calgary tonight is taking leading scorer Kadri to pickup a point.<\/p>\n

On the Devils side, team leader in powerplay goals Nico Hischier<\/a> is worth taking a look at. The Flames penalty kill has struggled all season, and with the absence of Mikael Backlund<\/a>, they were exposed by Toronto just two games ago.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, and check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play in. Today, we\u2019re looking at the Calgary Flames against the New Jersey Devils. Be sure to check out more NHL predictions every day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5244,"featured_media":439596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,4547,13,4548,4524],"tags":[6015,6079],"class_list":["post-465015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flames","category-hockey","category-devils","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-calgary-flames-predictions","tag-new-jersey-devils-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465015"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465063,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465015\/revisions\/465063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}