The KeyBank Center will be hosting an East-West showdown as the Buffalo Sabres welcome the visiting Vegas Golden Knights. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain will broadcast the game, and the puck drops at 3 p.m. ET on Monday, October 8.
Vegas Golden Knights at Buffalo Sabres Odds
Vegas (-140) is currently the favorite over Buffalo (+120), and the oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 6 goals. The line for betting the total stands at -110 money on the over and -110 on the under.
Buffalo is 1-1 straight up (SU) and has yet to earn moneyline bettors any units (positive or negative) in 2018-19. That win percentage, ranked third in the Atlantic Division so far this season, is a surprising turnaround from what the team did during the 2017-18 season (25-57). . The team’s 1-1 SU at home thus far.
The Sabres have successfully found the net on 33.3 percent of their power play opportunities in 2018-19. That’s a big improvement from last year, when they were ranked 20th in the league by scoring on 19.1 percent of their extra-man opportunities. Their penalty kill has fallen off significantly year-over-year as they’ve gone from successfully defending 77.9 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked 22nd overall last season) to 75.0 percent this year.
The Sabres, as a collective unit, have been penalized 4.0 times per game this season, a number that’s up some from last year’s 3.4 penalties per game they gave up. After serving an average of 8.2 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team’s been forced to kill penalties for 9.5 minutes per outing this year.
Averaging 32.5 saves per game with a .942 save percentage, Carter Hutton (1-1) has been the best goalkeeper for Buffalo this year.
On the other side of the rink, Vegas is 1-1 straight up (SU) and has lost 0.8 units for moneyline bettors this year. A total of one of its matches have gone over the total, while another one has gone under and none have pushed.
The Knights have scored on 0.0 percent of their power play chances this year after converting on 21.0 percent of their extra-man opportunities in 2017-18 (a percentage that was right in line with the league average). The team’s gone from successfully defending 81.3 percent of opponent power plays (ranked ninth overall last season) to 83.3 percent in 2018-19.
Vegas’ players have been called for penalties 4.0 times per game this season, a number that is up a bit from the 3.6 penalties per game given up last year. After serving an average of 7.9 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team has been forced to stave off opponent power plays for 9.5 minutes per outing this year.
Marc-Andre Fleury (.870 save percentage and 3.80 goals against average) has been the primary option in goal for Vegas. Fleury is averaging 20.0 saves per game and has one win and one to his credit.
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Buffalo Sabres Free Picks
Pick: SU Winner – Golden Knights, O/U – Over
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Notes
Betting Trends
Buffalo was 1-2 in games that ended in a shootout last season while Vegas was 4-3 in shootouts.
Vegas skaters registered 24.9 hits per game last season, while the Sabres logged 21.5 hits per contest.
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