Overview
The Buffalo Sabres are in New Jersey tonight where they take on the Devils. The Devils have dominated the Sabres of late winning the last 5 meetings in a row and they have also played them well at home in general over the years winning 13 of the last 20 meetings played in New Jersey going back to 2003.
Head to head Trends
Sabres are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings.
Under is 32-13-7 in the last 52 meetings.
New Jersey Devils (-125)
The New Jersey Devils are 7th in the Metropolitan Division with 82 points but with just 3 games remaining and being 7 points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the final playoff spot they are now mathematically out of the playoffs.
It looks like the Devils are going to finish the season as the worst offensive team in the league averaging just 2.20 goals per game. The Devils actually have a decent defense allowing just 2.46 goals per game which would be great if they had a little bit more fire power on offense but 2.20 goals per game just isn’t enough to win in the NHL.
New Jersey Devils Trends
Devils are 6-2 in their last 8 games playing on 2 days rest.
Devils are 7-19 in their last 26 vs. Eastern Conference.
Buffalo Sabres (+115)
The Buffalo Sabres are 7th in the Atlantic Division with 77 points and they have been out of the playoff race for a while now. The Sabres don’t have the best offense in the league either averaging 2.42 goals per game but they do have a solid enough defense allowing 2.62 goals per game.
The Sabres are playing some of their best hockey of late winning 6 of their last 10 games. Over their last 10 games the Sabres have finally started to score some goals averaging 2.90 a game but they also ran into some injury issues of late with some of their top guys going down so I doubt this mini offensive explosion will last much longer.
Buffalo Sabres Trends
Sabres are 31-82 in their last 113 road games.
Sabres are 19-40 in their last 59 vs. Metropolitan.
Conclusion
I like the New Jersey Devils over the Sabres in this one. Neither team is all that good but I do think the Devils are probably the better of the two especially with some of the injury problems the Sabres have suffered of late.
Free Pick: New Jersey Devils -125
