Columbus Blue Jackets (30-17-10) at Buffalo Sabres (25-24-8)
NHL Hockey: Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm (KeyBank Center)
The Line: Buffalo Sabres / Columbus Blue Jackets --- Over/Under: Click Here for the Latest Odds
Where to Watch: MSGB, FSOH Stream live sports and exclusive originals on ESPN+. Sign up now!
The Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres meet Thursday in NHL action at the KeyBank Center.
The Columbus Blue Jackets look for a win after splitting their last six games. The Columbus Blue Jackets are averaging 2.6 goals per game and are scoring on 16.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Oliver Bjorkstrand leads Columbus with 18 goals, Pierre-Luc Dubois has 26 assists and Seth Jones has 126 shots on goal. Defensively, the Columbus Blue Jackets are allowing 2.4 goals per game and are killing 83.2 percent of their opponents power plays. Joonas Korpisalo has given up 78 goals on 901 shots faced and Elvis Merzlikins has allowed 52 goals on 740 shots. The Columbus Blue Jackets have allowed two or less goals in four straight games.
The Buffalo Sabres look for a win after splitting their last 12 games. The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 2.8 goals per game and are scoring on 19.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Jack Eichel leads Buffalo with 31 goals, Rasmus Dahlin has 28 assists and Sam Reinhart has 122 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 3.1 goals per game and are killing 74.4 percent of their opponents power plays. Carter Hutton has given up 69 goals on 663 shots faced and Linus Ullmark has allowed 89 goals on 1,031 shots. The Buffalo Sabres have allowed three or less goals in nine of their last 12 games.
The Blue Jackets are 6-2 in their last 8 road games, 26-11 in their last 37 Thursday games and 9-3 in their last 12 overall. The Sabres are 24-49 in their last 73 vs. Eastern Conference, 2-5 in their last 7 home games and 30-78 in their last 108 Thursday games. The under is 4-1 in Blue Jackets last 5 road games. The under is 5-2 in Sabres last 7 overall. The home team is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings. The under is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Buffalo.
You can make a strong case that the Columbus Blue Jackets are playing the better hockey entering this contest, and they've won six of the last nine meetings against the Sabres. However, the Buffalo Sabres are showing more signs of life as of late and you just feel like a breakthrough is coming, especially on their home ice where they've struggled a lot lately. I'm going to back the Sabres in this contest because they're at home.
Randy’s Pick Buffalo Sabres
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers
Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter @WizardOf0dds