Sabres vs Stars Predictions, Picks, Tips 1/16/2020

Game: Buffalo Sabres vs Dallas Stars

Date: Thursday, January 16, 2020

Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

TV: MSGB/FSSW

Odds/Point Spread: Sabres (+178) Stars (-198)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Linus Ullmark and the Buffalo Sabres (21-19-7, 5th in the Atlantic Division) are headed to American Airlines Center on Thursday where they'll meet the Dallas Stars (27-15-4, 2nd in the Central Division). The moneyline on this matchup has the Sabres priced at +178 and the Stars are at -198. The over/under has been set at 5.5. The Sabres cover 43.5% of the time, having gone 20-26 SU. Dallas covers 56.8% of the time, going 25-19 straight up.

The Buffalo Sabres come into the game holding a record of 21 victories and 19 losses, ranking them 5th in the Atlantic Division. So far this year, they have converted a total of 139 goals which ranks 11th in the Eastern Conference and 18th in the NHL. Their goal differential is -9, ranking them 22nd in the NHL. The Sabres currently have a total of 49 pts, which ranks 20th in the NHL and 11th in the conference. Regarding shots at the opposition, they currently have a total of 1,395 which ranks 12th in the East and 25th in the NHL. As a team, Buffalo currently has a total of 817 hits which has them averaging 17.4 per game. They currently have a total of 439 blocks for the year. Protecting the net for Buffalo is Linus Ullmark from Elmhurst, Illinois. He is 26 years old and has racked up 1,792 mins protecting the net this season. Ullmark is conceding 2.78 goals against average which has him ranked 14th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 26th in the NHL among goaltenders. For the year, he's allowed 83 goals. He has a save percentage of .911 which has him ranked 13th among Eastern Conference goaltenders.

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The Buffalo Sabres were on the right side of the scoreboard with a 4 - 2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in their last contest. The Sabres had a good offensive performance in the win. In this game, they scored on 4 out of the 26 shots they looked to score on. Additionally, they had 3 power play chances and notched 2 goals out of those attempts. Buffalo racked up a total of 8 penalty minutes for this matchup. The Corsi for the Sabres was 34 and the Corsi against was 49 which means they had a Corsi percentage of 41.0%. Their Fenwick was 29 while the Fenwick against was 33, telling us they have a Fenwick percentage of 46.8%. They earned 24 face-off wins and lost 17 tries to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 41.2% and they had a PDO at even strength of 104.2 in this one. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Vegas Golden Knights earned 26 shots. Their total at the end of the game was 8 penalty mins and they had 3 power play opportunities.

The Stars will be the team across the ice and for the campaign they have 27 wins and 15 losses. When talking about goal differential, they sit 3rd in the West and 9th in the league with +15. They currently have a total of 122 goals for the season which ranks them 13th in the West. Dallas has a team save percentage of .927 which currently has them ranked 1st in the league, meaning they are a tough team to score against. They have a team shooting percentage of 8.7% which puts them at 12th in the conference. In goal for Dallas is Ben Bishop who is having an ok year by allowing 2.23 goals against average and that places him 3rd among Western Conference goaltenders and 5th in the NHL among goaltenders. In the 1,695 minutes he's played, he's surrendered 63 goals. His save % is .930, which ranks him 2nd among Western Conference goaltenders and 4th in the NHL among goaltenders.

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The Dallas Stars squared up with the Colorado Avalanche in a matchup where the Stars earned a victory by a final score of 3 - 2. For this game, Dallas wound up with a 42.7% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by earning a Corsi of 50 and their opponent having a Corsi of 67. Their Fenwick rate came in at 44.2% by earning a Fenwick of 38 and the Avalanche ending the game with a 48 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi stats tell us the story of the kind of game Dallas had and you could say that they played like a middle of the road team. They had a PDO at even strength of 102.5 and they earned an oZS percentage of 52.6%. The Stars netted 3 goals of the 30 shots on goal they attempted. They had 3 power play opportunities in this one and converted 1 out of those chances. Concerning their opponent, the Avalanche had 2 power play chances but were not able to notch a goal. Dallas gave way to 43 shots on goal and the Avalanche ended up with a total of 11 penalty minutes.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlays Pundit's Pick: Take Dallas (-198) and under the total goals

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