Calgary Roughnecks vs Vancouver Warriors Odds
| Calgary Roughnecks Odds | -135 |
| Vancouver Warriors Odds | +105 |
| Total | 23.5 |
| Time | Saturday, 9:30 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
Odds via BetMGM.
The National Lacrosse League wraps up Week 2 with two Saturday night games, including a showdown between Western Canadian rivals: the Calgary Roughnecks and Vancouver Warriors.
Let’s take a look at my favorite bet for the Saturday slate of NLL games.
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The Roughnecks make their 2022-23 season debut against a Western Conference rival in the Warriors. Calgary is a 1.5-point favorite, and the total is as high as 23.5 at some sportsbooks.
The Roughnecks will open the season without their 2021-22 leading goal-scorer in Curtis Dickson, who left for San Diego in the offseason. While Dickson’s absence will definitely leave a huge hole in this offense, the team retained most of its core players and acquired some big free agents in forward Brett Hickey and defender Jeff Cornwall.
Christian Del Bianco also returns as the team’s starting netminder and will look to rebound after a 2021-22 season that saw him post his lowest save percentage since taking over as the starter in 2018 — a still admirable 77.2%.
On the flip side, the Warriors chose to let Alex Buque walk in free agency and started veteran Steve Fryer in their season-opening loss to the Toronto Rock.
Fryer saw limited action in 2022 but managed to record a 10.38 GAA and 78.1% save percentage. I expect Fryer to bounce back from last week’s outing (13 goals allowed, 74.5 Sv%) against a Calgary offense that should be far less potent than the Rock were last week.
Last season, Calgary games fell under 23.5 goals in 10 of its 18 regular-season games. While the Warriors have a new starting goalie this year, its games fell under this mark in 11 of their 18 contests last season.
Ultimately, I expect these teams to try and settle in on offense and stay stout enough on defense to keep this game at a relatively slow pace.
Pair that with two goaltenders who are capable of posting big nights, and you have a blueprint for this total to fall under 23.5.
Pick: Under 23.5
