The Buffalo Sabres will head down south to Florida to take on the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Sabres head into this game with the mindset of playing for the momentum into the next season. They're well outside of playoff contention, but they refuse to go down without a fight. The Lightning come into this game on a rare four-game losing streak and have even fallen down to the first wild card position in the East. With that, it’s time to continue our NHL odds series with a Sabres-Lightning prediction and pick.

Here are the Sabres-Lightning NHL Odds, Courtesy of FanDuel

NHL Odds: Sabres-Lightning Odds

Buffalo Sabres: +1.5 (+120) (+290 ML)

Tampa Bay Lightning: -1.5 (-144) (-385 ML)

Over: 6.5 (-105)

Under: 6.5 (-115)

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Why The Sabres Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Buffalo Sabres are not having the season that they'd prefer, of course, but they've been a sneaky team to beat over the past month or so. They come into this game on a two-game losing streak, but they've been able to beat a lot of good teams just because they're underrated. Sure, their amount of points and record don't show it, but they're not going down without bringing positive momentum into the offseason. Starting between the pipes tonight for the Sabres is likely Craig Anderson, who has struggled with a .901 save percentage and allowing 3.06 goals against per game. He'll look to do what he can in order to keep the Sabres in this game.

Why The Lightning Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Tampa Bay Lightning are in a rough patch, losing four straight games and now being knocked down to the wild card position. The worry isn't whether or not they'll make the playoffs, because they certainly will, it's more about where they'll be in the standings when the playoffs do eventually come around. The Bolts will need to step up their game and get back on the right track if they want to three-peat the Stanley Cup this year.

It's assumed that arguably the greatest goaltender in the world, Andrei Vasilevskiy, will get the start tonight, but they might start resting him more to keep him healthy for the playoffs. Vasilevskiy is currently sporting a .917 save percentage while allowing 2.45 goals against per game. Not the best performance of his career, in terms of numbers, but his raw talent is all the Lightning need to get back on another deep cup run.

Final Sabres-Lightning Prediction & Pick

This is one of those games where the obvious choice is the go with the Lightning. But these odds are so bad, it's almost not even worth it to place a bet on this game, for either side. In terms of value, I might take the Sabres to cover 1.5 goals, but even then I'm not that confident in it. The total over goals also seems a little high for my liking, but I'm going to take that over anyway. I think the Lightning are hungry for a win after losing four in a row and will certainly put points on the board. The Sabres are also not scared to play physical and put pucks in the back of the net. They're not a team to take underestimate and I'm excited to see what they do in these next couple of seasons.

Final Sabres-Lightning Prediction and Pick: Over 6.5 (-105)