Los Angeles Kings vs. Buffalo Sabres - 12/21/19 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Los Angeles Kings vs Buffalo Sabres

Date: Saturday, December 21, 2019

Location: KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY

TV: MSGB/FSW

Odds/Point Spread: Kings (+166) Sabres (-185)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Linus Ullmark and the Buffalo Sabres (16-13-7, 3rd in the Atlantic Division) play the Los Angeles Kings (15-18-4, 7th in the Pacific Division) at KeyBank Center on Saturday, December 21, 2019. The Sabres open this matchup at -185 while the Kings are coming in at +166. The total has been set at 6. The Kings are covering 40.5% of the time, having gone 15-22 SU. The Sabres are covering 42.9% of the time, going 15-20 straight up.

The Los Angeles Kings head into this game holding a record of 15 wins and 18 defeats, ranking them 7th in the Pacific Division. Thus far in the season, they have converted a total of 96 goals which ranks 12th in the conference and 24th in the league. Their goal differential is -20, ranking them 28th in the league. The Kings have earned a total of 34 pts, which ranks 27th in the league and 14th in the West. When discussing shots on goal, they have earned a total of 1,244 which ranks 2nd in the West and 2nd in the league. As a unit, Los Angeles has compiled a total of 744 hits which has them averaging 20.1 per contest. They have earned a total of 412 blocks for this year. The man looking after the goal for Los Angeles is Jonathan Quick from Milford, Connecticut. He is 34 years old and has played a total of 1,435 mins in net this season. Quick is surrendering an average of 3.05 GAA which has him placed 24th among West goalies and 46th among goaltenders in the NHL. During this season, he's allowed 73 goals. He holds a save % of .893 which has him placed 28th among West goalies.

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The Los Angeles Kings will need a bounce back game after taking a 3 - 2 defeat to the Columbus Blue Jackets the last time they stepped on the ice. The Kings left a lot to be desired in terms of their offense in this loss. In this outing, they converted 2 of the 25 shots they looked to score on. Additionally, they had 2 power play attempts but weren't able to net one. Los Angeles earned 8 penalty mins for this matchup. The Corsi for the Kings sat at 39 and the Corsi against was 47 which earned them a Corsi percentage of 45.3%. Their Fenwick sat at 30 while the Fenwick against was 32, which earned them a Fenwick percentage of 48.4%. They won 25 face-off wins and were beaten on 33 of the face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 36.1% and they had a PDO at even strength of 100.4 in this game. In terms of their opponent's stats, the Columbus Blue Jackets racked up 28 shots. They had 4 minutes in the box and they notched 4 power play attempts.

The Sabres will be looking to add points to their total and for the campaign they have 16 wins and 13 losses. With reference to goal differential, they sit 12th in the East and 20th in the league with -3. They have a total of 110 goals for the year which ranks them 9th in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo has a save percentage as a team of .903 which currently has them ranked 20th in the league, which means scoring chances could present themselves. They have a team shooting percentage of 10.0% which puts them at 7th in the East. In goal for Buffalo is Linus Ullmark who is having a tough year by giving up 2.90 goals against average and that has him ranked 19th in the Eastern Conference and 35th among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,200 minutes he has been on the ice this year, he has surrendered 58 goals. He has a save % of .913, which has him sitting 11th in the Eastern Conference and 25th among goalies in the NHL.

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The Buffalo Sabres faced off against the Philadelphia Flyers in an outing where the Sabres took a loss by a final score of 6 - 1. In this game, Buffalo wound up with a 37.9% Corsi rating. They got to that percentage by earning a Corsi of 25 while their opponent had a Corsi of 41. Their Fenwick percentage was 38.5% by notching a Fenwick of 20 and the Flyers earning a 32 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi rating tells us the kind of game Buffalo had and it tells us that they didn't have their best game. They had a PDO of 87.0 and they earned an oZS percentage of 33.3%. The Sabres netted 1 goal of the 17 shots on goal they attempted. They had 2 power play opportunities in this game and netted 1 out of those tries. In discussing the opposition, the Flyers had 5 power play opportunities and went on to score 3 goals. Buffalo conceded 29 shots on goal and the Flyers ended up with 6 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Guy's Pick: Take Buffalo (-185)

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