The Buffalo Sabres have taken advantage of a season-high seven-game homestand by scoring 17 goals through six contests and will wrap things up at KeyBank Center tonight against the New York Rangers. Sportsbooks opened the Sabres as -155 home favorites with a total of 6.
- The total has gone OVER in three of the Rangers’ last four games on the road (avg. combined score: 7.75).
- The Sabres are 8-1 ATS in their last nine games with two days off between games.
- The Rangers are 7-2 SU in their last nine games on the road vs the Sabres.
Sabres Pushing For Wild-Card Spot in East
Jason Pominville scored the go-ahead goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders, giving him three goals in the Sabres’ 3-2-1 homestand. Buffalo enters tonight’s game having given up just five tallies in its past three tilts. The Sabres remain only four points back of Pittsburgh for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference entering the stretch run of the season.
The Rangers’ deficit behind the Penguins sits at 11 games and trade rumors are starting to swirl thanks to losses in four of their last six games. Mika Zibanejad, who scored twice against the Jets, has notched 13 of his team-leading 25 goals in his last 11 games and 21 of his team-best 56 points in the last 13.
Rangers have had no problems in Buffalo
When the Rangers hit the road, high-scoring affairs tend to follow. The OVER has paid out in three of New York’s past four road games with an average combined score of 7.8 goals. New York is 29-26 O/U on the year, while Buffalo is 30-25 O/U.
The Rangers haven’t had any issue getting the job done on the road against the Sabres, evidenced by New York going 7-2 SU in its past nine at KeyBank Center. New York hasn’t been covering the puckline in this series, however, as the Rangers are 0-4 on the puckline in their last four meetings with the Sabres. Sportsbook was dealing the Rangers’ +1.5 puckline for a price of -200 as of this writing.
My pick: take the UNDER
I’m going against the aforementioned OVER trend and taking the UNDER in this one. Buffalo’s stingy defense has been limiting the damage from opponents lately, and the Rangers’ offense has been struggling mightily on its own. I’m expecting this one to stay relatively low-scoring and go UNDER the total.
