Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres - 4/23/21 NHL Picks and Prediction
Photo by Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres (12-27-7) vs Boston Bruins (26-12-6)
Game Info: Friday, April 23, 2021 at 7:00 pm (KeyBank Center)
Betting Odds: Buffalo Sabres +257 / Boston Bruins -293 --- 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 Friday night.
The Boston Bruins will look to build on a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres in their last matchup. Brad Marchand leads the Bruins with 57 points including team-highs of 25 goals and 32 assists while David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron each have 41 points with 18 goals and 23 assists. David Krejci has 29 points with 23 assists and Craig Smith has 27 points with 10 goals and 17 assists this season. As a team, Boston is averaging 2.8 goals on 32.5 shots with a 21.3% success rate on the PP while allowing 2.5 goals on 27.7 shots with an 86.3% success rate on the PK this season.
The Buffalo Sabres will look to bounce back and play spoiler after Thursday’s loss. Sam Reinhart leads the Sabres with 30 points including a team-high 17 goals with 13 assists while Victor Olofsson has 27 points with 12 goals and 15 assists. Rasmus Dahlin has 20 points with a team-high 16 assists while Casey Middelstadt has 15 points with 8 goals and 7 apples. Rasmus Ristolainen and Kyle Okposo each have double-digit assists this season. As a team, Buffalo is averaging 2.3 goals on 27.9 shots with a 20.3% success rate on the power play while allowing 3.3 goals on 33 shots against with a 79% success rate on the penalty kill 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 16-5-2 in their last 23 games as a favorite. Buffalo is 13-40 in their last 53 games overall and 6-20 in their last 26 home games while the under is 4-1-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record. Boston is 23-6 in the last 29 meetings between these two teams and 15-3 in the last 18 meetings between these two teams in Buffalo.
The Buffalo Sabres have just mailed it in, and it’s at a point now where there’s not enough plus money that we could get to back Buffalo as the Sabres aren’t even interested in playing spoiler. Boston needs the wins to build their playoff position and to lock up a spot, so I’ll back Boston -1.5 in this one.
Chris’s Pick Boston -1.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Mitch's Take...
