The Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres meet Saturday in NHL action at the KeyBank Center. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Carolina Hurricanes are averaging 3.2 goals per game and are scoring on 20.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with 34 goals, Brent Burns has 43 assists and Martin Necas has 234 shots on goal. Defensively, the Carolina Hurricanes are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 84 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Frederik Andersen has allowed 75 goal on 783 shots faced, and Antti Raanta has allowed 53 goals on 593 shots.
The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 3.6 goals per game and are scoring on 23.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 45 goals, Rasmus Dahlin has 55 assists and Jeff Skinner has 223 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.6 goals per game and are killing 73.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has given up 115 goals on 1,054 shots faced, and Craig Anderson has given up 73 goals on 790 shots.
The Hurricanes are 17-8 in their last 25 road games and 40-17 in their last 57 overall. The Sabres are 2-6 in their last 8 home games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The under is 6-0 in Hurricanes last 6 overall. The over is 7-3-2 in Sabres last 12 overall. The Hurricanes are 6-1 in the last 7 meetings in Buffalo and 20-7 in the last 27 meetings. The home team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings. The favorite is 20-8 in the last 28 meetings.
The Carolina Hurricanes should be favored, as they’re comfortably the better team, and they’re fighting for a division crown as well. However, the Sabres have put together a decent week, they’re at home, and they’re still fighting for their playoff lives. It’s a slim, slim chance, but the Sabres aren’t mathematically eliminated yet. I’ll take a stab at the plus money.