The New York Rangers are favored at home on Tuesday night as they take on the Buffalo Sabres in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Sabres are really struggling lately losing 7 of their last 10 while the Rangers have won 7 of their last 10. This would seem to be an easy spot for New York on Tuesday but Buffalo’s top player, Jack Eichel screamed at his team after Saturday’s loss to Boston so perhaps the Sabres will play an inspired game on Tuesday.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 7 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Both teams have had two days off to get ready for this contest so there is no advantage in terms of travel. The Sabres have been competitive on the road going 6-7-2-3 but to bettors that just means 6-12 which doesn’t sound too good. The Rangers have been solid at home going 13-7 with 11 going over, just 6 going under with 3 pushes.
This will be the 2nd game of a three-game road trip for the Sabres while the Rangers will be playing the first half of a back-to-back as they are in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
Special Teams
The Sabres have a rotten offense that is scoring just 2.1 goals per game. It would be even worse without the power play that has actually been pretty good at 8th in the league at 21.6%. Buffalo has scored one or no goals 17 times this season. Buffalo is extremely top heavy as they get almost all of their scoring from a few players as only three players on the team have scored more than 20 points. The Sabres haven’t been that good on defense as they are 14th in the league allowing 2.7 goals per contest and their penalty killing has been terrible as they are last in the league at 73.9%.
The Rangers are excellent on the power play at 23.1% which is 4th in the league. The Rangers are scoring 3.4 goals per game which is 3rd best in the league. The Rangers are allowing just 2.5 goals per game which is 9th in the league and they are 8th in penalty killing at 84.1%.
Goalie Report
The Sabres have a weak starting goaltender in Robin Lehner who is 8-17 on the season with a 2.51 goals against average. The backup, Anders Nilsson is actually better as he is 5-6 with a 2.47 goals against average.
The Rangers have a similar situation as Henrik Lundqvist is the number one but he is 16-9 with a 2.45 goals against average while the backup, Antti Raanta is 10-4 with a 2.28 goals against average.
Free NHL Picks
This may not be the automatic win that everyone thinks for the Rangers. Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma said that Eichel’s outburst on Saturday was warranted. "I think every one of us should be," Bylsma said about players getting upset. "We know the situation we're in and we know how desperate we are at this point in the season to win hockey games. We should all find that desperation, that urgency and that anger."
Buffalo has actually won the past two games in this series after dropping the previous eight. The Sabres won 4-3 in New York last April and they won 4-3 at home last month. The last four in this series have gone over. The Sabres have won just three of the last ten in New York with the last three going over.
I will take a small shot with the Sabres at the big price and I will also play the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Sabres 4, Rangers 3
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