Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, and the Buffalo Sabres will face off against Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello, and the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in an Eastern Conference matchup. This one gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 4 and it will be broadcasted live on MSG Western New York.
Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Rangers Odds
New York (-120) is currently the favorite over Buffalo (+100), and the oddsmakers have put the Over/Under (O/U) at an even 6 goals (-125 money on the under, +105 on the over).
Buffalo is 7-7 straight up (SU) and has earned 0.1 units for moneyline bettors this year. Seven of its outings have gone over the total, while five have gone under and just one has pushed. The Sabres are 3-4 SU as a road team in 2018-19.
The Sabres have converted on 21.2 percent of their power play opportunities thus far. That’s a good improvement from last season, when they were ranked 20th in the NHL by scoring on 19.1 percent of their extra-man chances. Their penalty kill has weakened slightly since last year, however, as they’ve gone from successfully defending 77.9 percent of all opponent power plays (ranked 22nd overall last year) to 77.3 percent this year..
With a .910 save percentage and 29.2 saves per game, Carter Hutton (4-6-1) has been the best option in goal for Buffalo this year. If it decides to give him a rest, however, Buffalo may go with Linus Ullmark (3-1-1), who has a .934 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average this year.
Over on the other bench, New York is 5-8 straight up (SU) and has lost 0.5 units for moneyline bettors this year. Eight of its outings have gone under the total, while five have gone over and none have pushed. So far this year, the team’s 3-3 SU as the home team.
The Rangers have converted on just 19.0 percent of their power play opportunities this season, a figure that’s right around league average. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 24th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 73.8 percent of all opponent power plays.
Henrik Lundqvist has stopped 30.9 shots per game as the primary option in goal for the Rangers. Lundqvist has three wins, seven losses, and one overtime loss and has recorded a mediocre 2.77 goals against average and a .917 save percentage this season.
Buffalo Sabres at New York Rangers Betting Picks
Prediction: SU Winner – Sabres, O/U – Over
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Notes
Betting Notes
The Sabres are 1-3 SU when they serve more penalty minutes than their opponent while the Rangers are 2-5 SU in games where they spend more time in the box than the opposition.
After going 3-5 in games decided by a shootout last year, the Rangers are off to a 3-0 start in shootouts this season. Buffalo went 1-2 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
For both of these teams, the game went over the total in three of their past five matchups.
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