The Tampa Bay Lightning stay at home and welcome the Buffalo Sabres coming off a game against their rivals, the Carolina Hurricanes, less than 24 hours ago. As such, the NHL betting odds heavily favor Tampa to bounce back and beat Buffalo despite the latter’s recent string of successes as an underdog.
Let’s check the latest NHL odds, stats, injury reports, and NHL lines for Sabres vs Lightning. We’ve plenty of NHL betting odds for you to consider.
Sabres Facing Steepest Test Yet
The Sabres are rolling and are one of the best teams on the ice and online sports betting lines. Buffalo has won five of its eight games as an underdog this season. Some of these wins came on the road against the upper echelon, like Edmonton and Calgary. The team is doing it mainly through its offence.
Buffalo is the second-best scoring team in the NHL, with an average of 4.3 goals per game. This team just lit up Pittsburgh and Calgary for six goals each. The Sabres also scored eight goals against Detroit on Halloween. Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin are blossoming as young stars, while Alex Tuch and Victor Olofsson are also on fire.
Of course, it’s still early in the year, and many naysayers could point to this simply being a “fluky” start for Buffalo. Hence, the Sabres get to prove a point if they can ride into Tampa Bay and take out the Lightning without any rest.
Lightning Look to Get Spark Back
Tampa Bay got handled by the Hurricanes, getting outshot 56 to 26. But thanks to Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Lightning salvaged a point in a shootout loss. The once-dominant Lightning looks like a shell of themselves this season, partly due to the absence of their top defenseman, Victor Hedman.
But on 5-on-5, Tampa is mediocre at best. Tampa is -1 in goal differential here as well and stands at 19th in PDO. Translation: this team is very beatable, and this is true even when we factor in their special teams’ performances: 12th on the power play (23.4 percent) and eighth on the penalty kill (82.5 percent).
What can be more concerning is Tampa’s splits. The Lightning beats the likes of Columbus and Anaheim but loses to the Rangers and Hurricanes. It’s still early, but these early results make it hard to bet online on Tampa.
Sabres vs Lightning Game Injuries
Sabres vs Lightning Head-to-Head
Tampa Bay has owned Buffalo in recent history, having won nine of their last 10 meetings and all five home games. The total went over or pushed in six of these 10 games (6-3-1).
Sabres vs Lightning Game Information
- Game: Sabres (7-4-0) vs Lightning (6-4-1)
- Day/Time: Saturday, Nov. 5th, 7:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay
- Sabres vs Lightning Live Stream: NHL.TV
Sabres vs Lightning Betting Lines
Sabres vs Lightning Prediction
Will Buffalo cash as another wily underdog? We’re willing to bet on it, given their lofty price tag right now. The Sabres went 5-7-4 on the second night of a back-to-back last season, which is also 11-5 on the puck line. So it’s worth taking a shot on the Sabres, as they are younger and hotter than the Lightning at this point.
Sabres vs Lightning Trends
Sabres vs Lightning Edge
Sabres vs Lightning Results
Sabres vs Lightning Game Summary
