Sabres vs. Penguins: Projected Lines, Betting Odds, How to Watch, & More

It’s yet another chance at the elusive two wins in-a-row for the Buffalo Sabres, as they head to Pittsburgh to face a Penguins team that has successfully gone on a big run.

The Penguins have gone 7-2-1 over their past 10 games, putting them two points out of a playoff spot. The Sabres (16-19-4) are looking to build off a strong performance in Montreal and tackle one of the many teams standing between them and the last wild card spot.

How to Watch

Gametime: 7:00 p.m. ET

Location: PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh, PA)

TV: MSG (Buffalo); SN (Pittsburgh)

Stream: MSG+; ESPN+ (Out-of-market)

Radio: WGR550

The Sabres

Rasmus Dahlin will be headed to the All-Star game, the league announced Thursday. He was one of the handful of players in consideration for the nomination, all of whom stepped up in a big way in Montreal. The best Sabres player last game was perhaps Devon Levi, who stopped a slew of high-danger chances to hold the Canadiens to only one goal. He is expected to get a rest tonight, meaning it’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s turn to show he can return to early-season form.

We’re finally seeing the top line of Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch produce as projected this season. Thompson has nine points in his last six games. Skinner has six points in his last five. Tuch recorded his first multi-point game since the wild one against Toronto on December 21st.

The Penguins

Pittsburgh is climbing up the standings, and they have none other than Sidney Crosby to thank for carrying them there. He has seven goals and 13 points in their recent 7-2-1 run.

Crosby is back in the MVP chatter, as Dan Kingerski lays out over at Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

The Penguins are coming off a wild back-and-forth victory in Boston. Going round-for-round with the Bruins is impressive in it’s own right, but what’s even more impressive is the game-decider coming with the man-advantage.

Pittsburgh’s powerplay is finally starting to get off the ground after adding Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson in the offseason and not meeting expectations. They now sit at 14.41%, which is good for 26th in the NHL – ahead of the 28th-best Sabres.

Injury Report

Buffalo

• Alex Tuch (Illness) Day-to-Day
• Jordan Greenway (Illness) Day-to-Day
• Kyle Okposo (Lower Body) Week-to-Week

Pittsburgh

• Matt Nieto (Knee) Out [IR]
• John Ludvig (Upper Body) Out [IR]

Projected Lines and Pairs

Buffalo Sabres

Jeff Skinner – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch

JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn

Jordan Greenway – Casey Mittelstadt – Zach Benson

Zemgus Girgensons – Peyton Krebs – Eric Robinson

Rasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokiharju

Owen Power – Erik Johnson

Mattias Samuelsson – Connor Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Likely)

Lineup Source: PuckLuck Projected

Goalie Source: PuckLuck Projected

Pittsburgh Penguins

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell

Reilly Smith – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust

Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Valtteri Puustinen

Jansen Harkins – Noel Acciari – Jeff Carter

Marcus Pettersson – Kris Letang

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves – Chad Ruhwedel

Tristan Jarry (Projected)

Lineup Source: PuckLuck Projected

Goalie Source: PuckLuck Projected

Betting Odds Breakdown

It’s no surprise that Pittsburgh is favored at home, but what may come as a surprise is just how much they’re favored by. The consensus around the sportsbooks lists the Penguins at about -175, which implies about a 64% chance of winning.

The PuckLuck model begs to differ, suggesting that the Sabres shouldn’t be nearly as big of underdogs as implied by the books. This leaves a solid edge on betting the Sabres tonight at about +145.

The puckline is also in play, as the projected spread is much closer than the sportsbooks have it at. This is likely the strongest play of the night. Any game hovering around a projected spread of 0.25 goals or less has a relatively high percentage of forcing overtime.

The one thing the Penguins have been very solid at this season is reducing shot quality. They like to play a more controlled defensive system that should reduce Buffalo’s pace of play. With quality goaltending, the under should also be in play today.

For more betting analysis, be sure to head over to PuckLuck.com.

*PuckLuck.com provides data related to gambling and cannot guarantee the success of any suggested or related wagers. Please gamble responsibly.*