Buffalo Sabres (12-27-7) vs Boston Bruins (26-12-6)
Game Info: Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 7:00 pm (KeyBank Center)
Betting Odds: Buffalo Sabres +273 / Boston Bruins -310 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres meet in NHL action from the KeyBank Center on Thursday night.
The Boston Bruins will look to build on their 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres in their last matchup. Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 55 points including team-highs of 24 goals and 31 assists while Patrice Bergeron’s got 40 points with 18 goals and 22 assists and David Pastrnak has 39 points with 17 goals and 22 assists. David Krejci has 23 assists and Craig Smith also has 10 goals and 17 assists for the Bruins as well this season. As a team, Boston is averaging 2.8 goals on 32.3 shots with a 22% success rate on the power play while allowing 2.5 goals on 27.6 shots with an 85.7% success rate on the penalty kill this season.
The Buffalo Sabres will look to bounce back and play spoiler after their loss to the B’s last time out. Sam Reinhart leads the Sabres in scoring with 30 points including a team-high 17 goals while Victor Olofsson has 27 points with 12 goals and 15 assists. Rasmus Dahlin has a team-high 16 assists while Casey Middelstadt has 8 goals with 7 assists and Rasmus Ristolainen and Kyle Okposo each have double-digit assists as well this season. As a team, Buffalo is averaging 2.4 goals on 27.8 shots with a 21.4% success rate on the power play while allowing 3.4 goals on 32.8 shots against with a 78.3% success rate on the PK this season.
Boston is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall and 5-1 in their last 6 road games while the under is 10-3-1 in their last 14 games following a win. Buffalo is 18-43 in their lat 61 games against a team with a winning record and 13-40 in their last 53 games overall while the under is 10-4-1 in the last 15 games as a road underdog. Boston is 22-6 in the last 28 meetings between these two teams and 14-3 in the last 17 meetings between these two teams in Boston.
I get the case that could be made for Boston here as the Bruins are easily the better team while the Sabres have nothing to play for but pride, with that said, the Sabres have found the heart to give the Bruins a battle every time they take the ice this season, and I could see a one goal game here, so give me Buffalo +1.5 in this one.
Chris’s Pick Buffalo +1.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
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