The Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres meet Monday in NHL action at the KeyBank Center. The Tampa Bay Lightning have won 5 of their last 6 games. The Buffalo Sabres have lost 6 of their last 8 games.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 3.4 goals per game and are scoring on 25 percent of their power play opportunities. Steven Stamkos leads Tampa Bay with 10 goals, Nikita Kucherov has 21 assists and Brayden Point has 57 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 3.2 goals per game and are killing 78.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up 44 goals on 462 shots faced, and Brian Elliott has allowed 17 goals on 156 shots.
The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 3.6 goals per game and are scoring on 25.9 percent of their power play opportunities. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 13 goals, Rasmus Dahlin has 15 assists and Jeff Skinner has 63 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.5 goals per game and are killing 73.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Eric Comrie has given up 38 goals on 336 shots faced, and Craig Anderson has given up 23 goals on 276 shots.
The Lightning are 37-17 in their last 54 Monday games and 5-1 in their last 6 overall. The Sabres are 1-5 in their last 6 home games and 2-9 in their last 11 overall. The over is 8-3-1 in Lightning last 12 overall. The over is 10-4 in Sabres last 14 overall. The Lightning are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Buffalo and 23-5 in the last 28 meetings. The home team is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings. The favorite is 36-15 in the last 51 meetings.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are starting to look more and more like the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that makes the most of their shots offensively and has been getting sharper defensively. The Buffalo Sabres have issues keeping the puck out of the net, and home ice hasn't helped all that much. These are just two teams heading in different directions. Give me the Lightning and the PL for max betting value.
