The Buffalo Sabres will look to continue their recent success against the Detroit Red Wings when the teams meet on Tuesday night on NBCSN. The Sabres have won the last three meetings against the Red Wings and Buffalo will come into this game rested, as they have not played since winning in Boston on Saturday. The Red Wings are coming off a home game against Vancouver on Sunday. Let’s look at this Atlantic Division matchup on Tuesday night.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, October 24, 2017, at 7 p.m. ET at KeyBank Center. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Red Wings started the season strong, winning four of their first five games but recently the team has struggled. They went into Sunday’s game against Vancouver having lost three straight. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall said the team has been playing well, even though they haven’t been winning. “I think especially the first two games (last week) against Tampa and Toronto, I thought we did a lot of good things, played two pretty good games,” Kronwall said. “The outcome could have been different but in saying that, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
Detroit is beginning a three-game road trip on Tuesday. They are 3-2 on the road this season with four of the five games going over the total. The Red Wings are scoring 3.1 goals per game, while giving up 3.1 per contest.
The Sabres are coming off a good road win on Saturday, as they defeated Boston 5-4 in overtime. Ryan O’Reilly scored 2:59 into overtime to give the Sabres the victory. Head coach Phil Housley said after the game that the win is something they can build off of. Jack Eichel said the same thing. ”I think we need to use this game as an example of what it takes to win a hockey game,” Eichel said.
Buffalo is winless at home this season at 0-3, with two games going over, with one push. The Sabres are scoring 2.8 goals per game but giving up 3.9 per contest.
Special Teams
The Red Wings are 23rd in the NHL on the power play at 15.6%, while they are 12th in penalty killing at 82.9%. The Sabres are 22nd in the league on the power play at 15.6%, while they are 15th in penalty killing at 81.8%.
Key Stat
Detroit has won six of the last ten meetings overall, but they have lost the last three. The Red Wings won 2-1 in Buffalo in the first meeting last season and then lost the next three, losing 4-3 and 2-1 in Detroit and 3-2 in Buffalo. Three of the last four meetings have gone under the total. The Red Wings have won 8 of the last 10 in Buffalo, with the last three going under the total.
Free NHL Picks
The Sabres will have an extra day of rest for this game, but they have really struggled at home this season and in this series. They have lost eight of the last ten to Detroit at home. I think the better play in this contest is on the total. The Red Wings are giving up 3.1 goals per game and the Sabres are giving up almost four goals per game. Detroit is still relying on Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek in goal and neither is a great goaltender, as Howard has a goals against average of 2.54, while Mrazek has a goals against average of 3.24. It is even worse on the Buffalo side, as Robin Lehner has a goals against average of 3.29, while Chad Johnson has a goals against of 3.84. I will take this game on Tuesday night over the total.
NHL Odds: Sabres 4, Red Wings 3
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