Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres - 12/27/19 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Boston Bruins vs Buffalo Sabres

Date: Friday, December 27, 2019

Location: KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY

TV: NESN/MSGB

Odds/Point Spread: Bruins (-139) Sabres (+115)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

KeyBank Center is the site where Linus Ullmark and the Buffalo Sabres (17-14-7, 5th in the Atlantic Division) will take on the Boston Bruins (22-7-9, 1st in the Atlantic Division) on Friday. The Sabres open this matchup at +115 while the Bruins are coming in at -139. The total has been set at 5.5. The Bruins are covering 57.9% of the time, having gone 22-16 SU. The Sabres are covering 43.2% of the time, going 16-21 straight up.

The Boston Bruins head into this game holding a record of 22 victories and 7 losses, ranking them 1st in the Atlantic Division. So far this year, they have racked up a total of 130 goals which ranks 3rd in the Eastern Conference and 4th in the NHL. Their goal differential is +35, ranking them 1st in the NHL. The Bruins have compiled a total of 53 pts, which ranks 3rd in the NHL and 2nd in the conference. In terms of shots at the opposition, they have compiled a total of 1,196 which ranks 8th in the conference and 14th in the NHL. As a team, Boston has earned a total of 866 hits which means they are averaging 22.8 per contest. They have compiled a total of 413 blocks for the year. The man looking after the net for Boston is Tuukka Rask from Caledonia, Ontario. He is 32 years old and has racked up 1,395 mins protecting the goal for the campaign. Kinkaid is giving up 2.32 goals per contest which places him at 4th among Eastern Conference goalies and 8th among goalies in the NHL. For the year, he's surrendered 54 goals. His save % is .923 which places him at 5th among Eastern Conference goalies.

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The Boston Bruins went home feeling good about their game by earning a 7 - 3 win over the Washington Capitals the last time they stepped on the ice. The Bruins played really well in the win. In this game, they scored on 7 of the 17 shots they tried. Furthermore, they had 6 power play attempts and netted 2 goals out of those chances. Boston ended up with 14 penalty minutes in this matchup. The Corsi for the Bruins was 22 and the Corsi against was 47 giving them a Corsi percentage of 31.9%. Their Fenwick was 17 and the Fenwick against at even strength sat at 35, telling us they have a rate of 32.7%. They took 20 face-off wins and lost 20 attempts to control the puck. Their starts in the offensive zone came in at 47.1% and they had a PDO at even strength of 126.4 in this one. In terms of their opponent's stats, the Washington Capitals tallied 42 shots. They had a total of 26 penalty minutes and they earned a total of 5 power play chances.

The Sabres will be looking to add points to their total and for the year they sit with 17 wins and 14 defeats. In terms of goal differential, they are ranked 12th in the Eastern Conference and 20th in the league with -4. They have earned a total of 114 goals for this year which ranks them 10th in the conference. Buffalo has a save percentage as a team of .903 which currently has them sitting 19th in the league, which means scoring chances could present themselves. They have a team shooting percentage of 9.7% which is good for 10th in the East. In goal for Buffalo is Linus Ullmark who is having a marginal year by allowing 2.82 goals against average and that ranks him 15th among East goalies and 28th among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,318 minutes he's played, he's given up 62 goals. He holds a save percentage of .914, which has him sitting 11th among East goalies and 23rd among goalies in the NHL.

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The Buffalo Sabres faced the Ottawa Senators in a matchup where the Sabres ended up taking the loss by a final score of 3 - 1. In their game, Buffalo earned a 60.2% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 71 and the other team having a Corsi of 47. They earned a Fenwick percentage of 63.1% with a Fenwick of 53 and the Senators earning a 31 Fenwick. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Buffalo had and you could say that they have had better days on the ice. Their PDO was 90.4 and their oZS percentage was 58.3%. The Sabres notched 1 goal out of the 44 shots on goal they took. They had 2 power play opportunities in this outing but weren't able to notch a goal. In discussing their opponent, the Senators had 2 power play opportunities but were not able to score a goal. Buffalo allowed 29 shots on goal and the Senators earned a total of 4 penalty minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Guy's Pick: Take Buffalo (+115)

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