The Tampa Bay Lightning, spearheaded by Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman, are ready to take the ice against Jack Eichel, Victor Olofsson, and the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Center in a divisional tilt. The game will get started at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 31 and it can be seen live on Fox Sports Sun.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres Odds
Buffalo (+150) is currently the underdog to Tampa Bay (-170), and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 7 goals (-125 for the under, +105 for the over).
Tampa Bay is 20-17 straight up (SU) and has lost 7.5 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 37 regular season outings, 22 of its games have gone over the total, while 14 have gone under and just one has pushed. The Bolts are 8-8 SU on the road in 2019-20.
Tampa Bay currently has the third-best power-play unit in the NHL, as it’s found the net on 29.0 percent of its extra-man advantages this season. Its penalty kill is ranked 16th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 80.5 percent of all penalties..
Boasting a .908 save percentage and 28.1 saves per game, Andrei Vasilevskiy (16-11-2) has been the top option in goal for Tampa Bay this season. If it chooses to rest him, however, the team might roll with Curtis McElhinney (4-6-2 record, .905 save percentage, 3.21 goals against average).
On the other side of the ice, Buffalo is 17-23 straight up (SU) and has lost 3.9 units for moneyline bettors thus far. 20 of its games have gone over the total, while another 20 have gone under and none have pushed. It’s 11-7 SU as the home team this year.
The Sabres have converted on just 18.2 percent of their power play chances this year, a figure that’s right around league average. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 29th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 74.6 percent of all opponent power plays.
Linus Ullmark has stopped 29.2 shots per game as the primary option in goal for the Sabres. Ullmark has 11 wins, 13 losses, and three OT losses and has maintained a .913 save percentage and 2.80 goals against average this year.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres Betting Predictions
Free NHL Tip: SU Winner – Sabres, O/U – Over
Betting Trends
- The total has gone under in four of Buffalo’s last five games.
- Four of Tampa Bay’s last ten games have been decided by two goals or more. The team is 1-3 in those games.
- Tampa Bay skaters have accounted for the 10th-most hits in the league (23.2 per game).
