Buffalo Sabres vs Minnesota Wild 1/7/23 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres meet Saturday in NHL action at the KeyBank Center. The Minnesota Wild have won 7 of their last 9 games. The Buffalo Sabres have won 7 of their last 8 games.

The Minnesota Wild are averaging 3.1 goals per game and are scoring on 23.3 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 22 goals, Mats Zuccarello has 24 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 112 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 2.8 goals per game and are killing 79.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 63 goals on 657 shots faced, and Filip Gustavsson has allowed 33 goals on 436 shots.

The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 3.9 goals per game and are scoring on 28 percent of their power play opportunities. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 30 goals, Rasmus Dahlin has 29 assists and Jeff Skinner has 106 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.4 goals per game and are killing 72.9 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Eric Comrie has given up 38 goals on 336 shots faced, and Craig Anderson has given up 35 goals on 457 shots.

The Wild are 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 9-2 in their last 11 overall. The Sabres are 10-21 in their last 31 Saturday games and 7-1 in their last 8 overall. The under is 8-2-1 in Wild last 11 overall. The over is 19-9-1 in Sabres last 29 overall. The Wild are 10-3 in the last 13 meetings in Buffalo and 1-4 in the last 5 meetings. The underdog is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings. The road team is 19-7 in the last 26 meetings.

The Minnesota Wild are the better team on paper, and they’re going to get the benefit of the doubt. However, the Buffalo Sabres are playing terrific hockey over the last two weeks, and we’ve reached a point where they pack value in the underdog role. With wins in 7 of their last 8 tries, it’s hard to ignore the Sabres at home with the plus money. I’ll take a stab.