Sabres to Start Levi Against Slumping Islanders

The Buffalo Sabres will face the scoring-depraved New York Islanders Friday night at KeyBank Center. The Islanders are dead last in the NHL in goals per game, registering only one goal over their last two games. The Sabres are coming off of a loss to the Florida Panthers, and are starting Devon Levi for the first time in over two weeks to try to get their young goalie going.

Levi’s last performance was a rough one, surrendering six goals in a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. His two other starts this season were strong ones, stopping 37 of 40 shots in a loss to New Jersey and 25 of 27 in a win over Florida. Facing the Islanders on the front of a back-to-back appears to be a prime opportunity for Levi to regain his form and prove to the coaching staff that he deserves more starts.

Where to Watch

Gametime: 7:00 p.m. ET

Location: KeyBank Center (Buffalo, NY)

TV: MSG; MSGSN; SN

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

Radio: WGR550

Sabres Gameday

In practice, the Sabres switched around their middle-six forwards on Thursday to get key contributors Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn going. Cozens shifted to the wing with Ryan McLeod and Jordan Greenway, while Quinn skated alongside Peyton Krebs and Jason Zucker.

More: How McLeod and Greenway Can Help Get Dylan Cozens Going

The Sabres have been reliant on the surging top line of Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka, and Alex Tuch for offense and need to solidify consistent secondary scoring help. Buffalo also reunited the speedy, in-your-face fourth line they liked so much in training camp, with Sam Lafferty centering Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.

With Levi in net, the Sabres will look to take some pressure off of him by providing plenty of goal support.

New York Islanders

The Islanders are currently sitting last in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-5-2 record. They’ve been shutout in four of their ten games, an astronomical percentage to begin the season.

Top forwards Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat have only five points each, which is well off of their scoring pace last season. To make matters worse for the Islanders, Barzal is back on Long Island and will miss the game against the Sabres. The Isles will have to find scoring elsewhere, which may prove to be difficult.

Of their two goalies, Ilya Sorokin has been far better than Semyon Varlamov and is likely to get the start tonight. Sorokin has a .932 save percentage and 1.80 goals-against average to begin the season.

Injury Report

Buffalo Sabres

• Zach Benson (Lower Body) Day-to-day

New York Islanders

• Mathew Barzal (Upper Body) Out
• Alexander Romanov (Upper Body) Day-to-day
• Anthony Duclair (Leg) Out [IR]

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards (Projected)

JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch

Jordan Greenway – Ryan McLeod – Dylan Cozens

Jason Zucker – Peyton Krebs – Jack Quinn

Beck Malenstyn – Sam Lafferty – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Defense (Projected)

Rasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokiharju

Owen Power – Bowen Byram

Mattias Samuelsson – Connor Clifton

Devon Levi

New York Islanders

Forwards (Confirmed)

Anders Lee – Bo Horvat – Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Maxim Tsyplakov – Brock Nelson – Kyle Palmieri

Pierre Engvall – Brock Nelson – Simon Holmstrom

Hudson Fasching – Kyle MacLean – Oliver Wahlstrom

Defense (Confirmed)

Alexander Romanov – Noah Dobson

Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock

Mike Reilly – Scott Mayfield

Goalie (Confirmed)

Ilya Sorokin

Source: Andrew Gross, Newsday

Betting Breakdown

The Buffalo Sabres are slight favorites over the New York Islanders at home according to both the sportsbooks and the PuckLuck model. The consensus odds for betting on the Sabres to win outright are around -110, which implies just over a 52% chance of winning.

PuckLuck is in the same ballpark, projecting about a 51%-52% chance of winning over the Barzal-less Islanders. This leaves little-to-no betting edge on the moneyline in either direction.

The puckline is a little different, with a slight betting edge on the Islanders getting a goal and a half. At around -280 odds though, it’s not a generous payout.

If you’re looking for a sneaky-good anytime goalscorer bet JJ Peterka’s odds have dropped to +200 in spots. The Islanders also have a new under-the-radar go-to player in Maxim Tsyplakov, whose odds are listed at a cool +400 on some sportsbooks to score against the Sabres.

More Tsyplakov: Scouting Sabres Opponents: Islanders Have New Secret Weapon

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For more betting analysis across the NHL, head over to PuckLuck.com.

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