Senators vs. Sabres Prediction: NHL Betting Odds
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Andrew Rogers
While the Senators have played well of late with six wins over their past 10 games, the reeling Sabres come in having lost eight consecutive games and are headed for yet another prime spot in the upcoming draft lottery.
Senators vs Sabres Betting Analysis
Oddsmakers aren’t putting much stock in these teams’ recent performances, making the Sabres a hefty favourite despite the fact that they’ve been outscored by a 35-14 margin over the course of their losing skid. But the Senators will be giving netminder Joey Daccord his first career NHL start, which should give the Sabres a boost. It doesn’t hurt that the home team has won five of the past seven meetings, including Ottawa’s 4-0 win over Buffalo in their most recent meeting.
The total for this one has held steady despite the announcement that Daccord would draw the start, and over bettors will no doubt be interested in this one given both teams’ penchant for allowing goals in bunches. But it’s worth considering that the Senators, who upended the New York Rangers 4-1 on Wednesday, have gone below the total in each of their past seven games on the tail end of a back-to-back. And Buffalo is 2-5 O/U in its last seven at home.
Ottawa Senators
The 2018-19 edition of the Senators won’t prompt many fond memories down the road, but this team has actually done a few things well – and its power play sits near the top of the list. Ottawa enters Thursday’s game ranked just outside the top 10 in power-play success rate at 20.7 percent despite having lost offensive stars Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel. Even more impressive: The Sens have the ninth-best mark (21.5 percent) since the All-Star Break.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo’s power play has been nothing to sneeze at, either, ranking 14th since the break with a 20.2-percent conversion rate. And it’s fair to say the Sabres would love to find a way to get Jeff Skinner to the 40-goal mark before the regular season concludes; the free-agent acquisition scored his 38th of the season in the Sabres’ 3-2 loss to Nashville last time out, and has three goals in three games against the Senators in 2018-19.
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