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The Philadelphia Flyers visit the Buffalo Sabres as they face for the second time in three days. It is time to continue our NHL odds series with a Flyers-Sabres prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
This will be the second game in a row that the Sabres and Flyers have faced each other. The first game was on Wednesday, and the Sabres took the win in the game. The Flyers took an early lead in the game, as Joel Farabee scored just 55 seconds into the game to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Under three minutes last, Casey Mittelstadt scored to tie up the game. Brandon Biro scored the first goal of his career in the first period to give the Sabres the lead, but Cam Atkinson tied the game up in the first period.
In the second period, there was no scoring, but in the third, Owen Power scored his first of the year, followed by a Tage Thompson goal. That was the third point of the night for Thompson, as he had already placed two assists. Then, at the end of the period, Brandon Biro scored his second of the game to make it 5-2. The Sabres moved to 5-5-0 on the season with the win. Meanwhile, the Flyers fell to 4-5-1 on the year.
Here are the NHL Odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NHL Odds: Flyers-Sabres Odds
Philadelphia Flyers: +146
Buffalo Sabres: -178
Over: 5.5 (-142)
Under: 5.5 (+124)
How to Watch Flyers vs. Sabres
Time: 7:00 PM ET/ 4:00 PM PT
TV: NHL Network
Stream: FuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why The Flyers Will Win
The Flyers have been getting production all over the ice as of late, starting with Travis Konecny. He is the team leader in goals and points this year. Konecny comes into the game with eight goals on the season with three assists. He has scored goals in three of the last six games, with two games having two goals. Still, he has been in the box a lot this year, with 16 penalty minutes on the year. The second on the team in points is Travis Sanheim, who has a goal and nine assists this year.
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The Flyers have also been getting products from their top line. The top line is run by Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, and Cam Atkinson. Tippett has the lowest point total of the top line, coming into the game with two goals and four assists, giving him six points. Meanwhile, Couturier comes in with two goals and six assists, including a goal and two assists on the power play. Cam Atkinson is second on the team in goals this year with six of them. He has also added three assists this year, with two of them coming on the power play.
The Flyers have also not been great on the power play, scoring on just 11.4 percent of their chances this year, ranking 28th in the NHL so far this year. They have just four power-play goals this year. Konecny has two of them, while Season Couturier has one, and the rookie Bobby Brik has the other. For Brink, it is just one of his two goals this year, while he also has four assists
The Flyers are expected to start Carter Hart in this game, but he is still day-to-day with an injury. He allowed two goals on ninefiveshots against Buffalo last time out before leaving the game. He is 4-3-0 on the year with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. If he is not going today it will be Samuel Ersson who will be in the cage. He is 0-2-1 on the year with a 4.91 goals-against average and a .763 save percentage. Last time out, he allowed two goals on nine shots in a relief appearance.
Why The Sabres Will Win
The top line for the Sabres is led by Jordan Greenway, Tage Thompson, and Brandon Biro. Brio is coming off his second NHL game and the first with the Sabres this year. In his first game of the season, he took two shots, scored two times, and came away with a plus-two rating. Meanwhile, Tage Thompson will look to continue to play well with his new linemate. He had five goals and four assists this year, with one goal and one assist on the power play. Greenway has also scored a goal this year and four assists. Also looking to help out Brio will be Rasmus Dahlin from the Blue Line. This year he has been great, with two goals and seven assists.
Jeff Skinner leads the team in points this year. He has five goals this season and five assists on the way to leading the team in points. Joining Skinner on the second rotation will be Casey Mittlestadt, who has three goals and six assists on the season, and should set up Skinner nicely. Then, Buffalo puts out another scoring option on the third line with Dylan Cozens. Cozens has three goals and four assists on the season.
The Sabres have not been great on the power play this year. They have scored on just 10.0 percent of these chances, scoring only three times on the power play. That ranks them 30th in the NHL this year. Still, they have been stout on killing penalties this year, killing 90.0 percent of the penalties this year, ranking fifth in the NHL.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started last time out, allowing two goals in 40 shots in the game. He could be in again in this one, and look to continue his dominant streak, after having a shutout in the game before the first Flyers game. If he does not go, it will be Devon Levi, who is 1-3 on the year with a 3.26 goals-against average and .892 save percentage. Last time out, he let in four goals on 36 shots, taking the loss.
Final Flyers-Sabres Prediction & Pick
The Sabres won with ease the first time these two teams played. Part of it was Carter Hart going out, the other part was they were able to get to highly effective scoring areas. The Sabres took just 15 shots in the game, but over ten of them were in high danger and high conversion scoring areas. The result was they scored five times on 15 shots. They will get more shots in this one, but get the same result, a win.
Final Flyers-Sabres Prediction & Pick: Sabres ML (-178)
