Islanders vs Sabres Pick – NHL Predictions & Odds 3/7/23

The Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders meet Tuesday in NHL action at the UBS Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 3.7 goals per game and are scoring on 24.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 42 goals, Rasmus Dahlin has 49 assists and Alex Tuch has 164 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.6 goals per game and are killing 72.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has given up 92 goals on 846 shots faced, and Craig Anderson has given up 56 goals on 683 shots.

The New York Islanders are averaging 2.9 goals per game and are scoring on 17.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Brock Nelson leads New York with 27 goals, Mathew Barzal has 37 assists and Anders Lee has 175 shots on goal. Defensively, the New York Islanders are allowing 2.6 goals per game and are killing 82.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ilya Sorokin has given up 106 goals on 1,422 shots faced, and Semyon Varlamov has allowed 53 goals on 617 shots.

The Sabres are 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 52-122 in their last 174 games playing on 0 days rest. The Islanders are 2-7 in their last 9 vs. Atlantic and 1-5 in their last 6 games playing on 2 days rest. The over is 4-0 in Sabres last 4 overall. The under is 18-7-1 in Islanders last 26 overall. The Sabres are 1-10 in the last 11 meetings in New York and 5-1 in the last 6 meetings. The home team is 18-5 in the last 23 meetings. The favorite is 9-4 in the last 13 meetings.

The Buffalo Sabres have had issues winning on the end of back to backs for years now, and they don’t win in the Islanders building. The New York Islanders have had issues with consistency, but there’s really no reason they shouldn’t get the job done here at home with the big rest advantage. If the Islanders are going to make the playoffs, these are the games they need. I’ll lay the juice with the home team.