Calgary Flames at Los Angeles Kings, NHL forecast
The short version
- No betting line is up yet, so this is our pre-line forecast: the Kings at 61%, from our Elo ratings and what past lines said about each team. It switches to the line once one posts.
- Behind that number: the Kings have home ice.
What's at stake
Each team's chance to make the playoffs if it wins this game and if it loses, from 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season.
Flames
Now 17%
21%
with a win
14%
with a loss
This game is worth 7 points of playoff chance to them.
Kings
Now 33%
36%
with a win
28%
with a loss
This game is worth 8 points of playoff chance to them.
The pick
Live forecast: refreshes with lines and injury news until the game starts, then locks. No line is posted yet, so this is the pre-line forecast: Elo blended with ratings learned from past lines. It switches to the line once one is posted.
Kings 61%
Forecast Elo ratings alone
How often that comes true: NHL favorites the forecast gave 60–65% have won 62.4% of 599 graded games.
- Market
- No line yet
- Pre-line forecast
- LA 61%
- Elo + market-implied
- Elo ratings
- LA 56%
- Fair odds
- LA -155
- CGY +155 · the forecast as odds, no margin
- Projected score
- CGY 2.8 – 3.4 LA
- Margin from the forecast, total from team scoring ratings
How the number is built
Elo inputs in rating points (higher favors that team; 25–28 Elo is about a point of spread in football and basketball), then how the pieces combine.
| Factor | CGY | LA | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team rating | 1456 | 1464 | Elo entering the game; 1500 is league average |
| Home field | — | +35 | Worth 35 Elo in the NHL |
| Starting goalies | −3 | −4 | CGY: Dustin Wolf: team allows 0.08 more goals than with its usual starter (≈46 weighted starts) · LA: Darcy Kuemper: team allows 0.09 more goals than with its usual starter (≈47 weighted starts) |
| Elo ratings | LA +43 Elo | LA 56.2% | |
| Market-implied ratings | LA 62.0% | Team strength as past closing lines priced it, same game context | |
| Pre-line forecast | LA 60.8% | 20% Elo, 80% market-implied (log-odds blend) | |
Tale of the tape
This season coming into the game, regular season, each number with its league rank (the longer the bar, the higher). Home and road: the host's record at home against the visitor's on the road. Overtime and shootout losses count as losses in these records. Opponent Elo: how strong the teams each has played are, 1st the toughest. Shot share is a team's share of the shots on goal in its games. PDO adds shooting and save percentages: far from 100 tends to even out.
| CGY | Stat | LA |
|---|---|---|
| 29th of 322.6 | Goals scored | 2.824th of 32 |
| 24th of 323.5 | Goals allowed | 3.423rd of 32 |
| 28th of 32−0.9 | Margin | −0.625th of 32 |
| 26th of 3247.7% | Shot share | 49.9%13th of 32 |
| 23rd of 3288.7% | Save percentage | 88.9%19th of 32 |
| 8th of 326–4 | Last 10 | 5–514th of 32 |
| 26th of 322–6 | Road vs home | 2–631st of 32 |
| 20th of 321497 | Opponent Elo | 150013th of 32 |
| 29th of 321456 | Elo rating | 146428th of 32 |
Player props
Projected from ice time and per-minute production, and each goalie's expected shots against, next to sportsbook lines once they post. Over chances follow the book's own number with its margin removed, which was the more accurate of the two on 159,528 graded NHL lines (log loss 0.549 vs our model's 0.551). Where our model disagreed with the price by 10+ points (tagged "model"), bets won 57% and returned +6.9% a bet over 2,488 graded lines. Not betting advice.
| Player | Role | Proj | L5 | Line | L10 | Over | Model | Parlay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artemi PanarinLA | 20 min | 1.2 | 1.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Adrian KempeLA | 19 min | 0.9 | 1.0 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Matt CoronatoCGY | 18 min | 0.7 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Quinton ByfieldLA | 20 min | 0.7 | 0.8 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Joel FarabeeCGY | 20 min | 0.7 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Matvei GridinCGY | 17 min | 0.6 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Mats ZuccarelloLA | 14 min | 0.6 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Alex LaferriereLA | 19 min | 0.6 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Morgan FrostCGY | 16 min | 0.5 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Brandt ClarkeLA | 19 min | 0.5 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Trevor MooreLA | 16 min | 0.5 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Mikael BacklundCGY | 19 min | 0.5 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Corey PerryLA | 15 min | 0.5 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Erik GustafssonLA | 21 min | 0.5 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Drew DoughtyLA | 22 min | 0.4 | 0.8 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Yegor SharangovichCGY | 16 min | 0.4 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Erik HaulaLA | 15 min | 0.4 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Zayne ParekhCGY | 20 min | 0.4 | 0.8 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Ryan StromeCGY | 14 min | 0.4 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Simon NemecCGY | 21 min | 0.4 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Joel ArmiaLA | 13 min | 0.3 | 0.6 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Aydar SunievCGY | 13 min | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Adam KlapkaCGY | 13 min | 0.3 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Martin PospisilCGY | 14 min | 0.3 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Alex TurcotteLA | 12 min | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Scott LaughtonLA | 13 min | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Kenny ConnorsLA | 11 min | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Mikey AndersonLA | 21 min | 0.3 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Andre LeeLA | 11 min | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Zach WhitecloudCGY | 21 min | 0.2 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Joel EdmundsonLA | 18 min | 0.2 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Jonathan CastagnaCGY | 12 min | 0.2 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Maxim TsyplakovCGY | 11 min | 0.2 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Jake MiddletonCGY | 19 min | 0.2 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Yan KuznetsovCGY | 18 min | 0.2 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Brian DumoulinLA | 17 min | 0.2 | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Joel HanleyCGY | 17 min | 0.2 | 0.2 | — | — | — | — | No line |
| Cody CeciLA | 15 min | 0.1 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | No line |
Rating history
Each team's Elo over the last two seasons. Hover or drag to compare on any date.
Injury report
Current ESPN report. Elo values show what the model subtracts.
Flames
4 listedKevin Bahl D
Injured ReserveBahl will undergo surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon and won't play again in the 2026-27 season, the Flames announced Sunday.
Jonathan Huberdeau LW
Injured ReserveHuberdeau (hip) took the ice in a regular jersey Friday, Pat Steinberg of QR Calgary 770 AM reports.
Connor Zary C
Outout
Samuel Honzek LW
Injured Reserveir
Kings
3 listedErik Gustafsson D
Outout
Kevin Fiala LW
Injured ReserveFiala (lower leg) should play Thursday against the Islanders or Saturday against Calgary, according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN.
Jakub Dvorak D
Injured Reserveir-nr
Recent form
Last five results, and whether the forecast hit.
Against the line
How each team has done against the closing spread and total, coming into this game.
| This season |  CGY |  LA |
|---|---|---|
| Puck line | 9–9 | 8–7 |
| Last 10 | 7–3 | 5–5 |
| Favorite | 0–2 | 1–4 |
| Underdog | 9–7 | 7–3 |
| Overs–unders | 9–9 | 6–9 |
| Overs–unders, last 10 | 5–5 | 4–6 |
Against each game's closing line. Books set every line knowing these records: across 3,901 past games, the team with the better record against the spread so far that season covered 51.2%, short of the 52.4% a standard −110 bet needs, and over/under streaks held 48.0% of the time. They describe the past.
Head to head
CGY 8–3 LA in their last 11 meetings; the forecast called 6 of 11.