The St. Louis Blues (18-7-6) visit the Buffalo Sabres (14-11-6) at KeyBank Center Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. ET puck drop. We analyze the Blues-Sabres odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips around this matchup.
Blues at Sabres: Projected starting goalies
Jordan Binnington vs. Carter Hutton
Binnington has thus far backed up the 1.89 GAA and .927 SV coming-out party he enjoyed last season. The 26-year-old has logged a .921 SV% through 23 starts. He had been terrific over six straight starts from Nov. 19-Dec. 4 but was then rocked by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 13-minute (four-goal) outing Dec. 7.
Hutton has struggled mightily since starting the season off on the right foot. Since posting back-to-back shutouts in mid-October, the veteran netminder has yielded a .876 SV% over 10 games.
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Blues at Sabres: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 10:05 a.m. ET.
Prediction
St. Louis 2, Buffalo 1
Moneyline (ML)
NO PLAY on the +120 odds for the Sabres.
Expected goals numbers don’t support the two surges the Blues have had this season, a seven-game win streak from late October through early November and a four-game win streak recently ended.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
Buffalo captain Jack Eichel owns a 13-game point streak (10 goals, 13 assists). That’s a career-best for Eichel, who leads the Sabres with 42 points this season.
NO PLAY on a slight lean toward Buffalo (+1.5, -228). The home side is coming off an Alberta-British Columbia road trip which included a Sunday overtime game. Over their last 19 games, the Sabres have averaged just 2.8 goals per game. A 5-for-59 power play (8%) over that span hasn’t helped.
Over/Under (O/U)
A fade of both offenses (too far over their skis with surface numbers) and a play on some regression and hidden positives among the goalies makes for UNDER 5.5 (+100) as the play here.
Hutton’s even-strength numbers are solid; he’s been undone on the power play and by an outlier number of low-slot goals (hard-to-stop shots from close proximity). A bounce on Binnington brings the same confidence. Buffalo’s defense owns a wide swing in GAA, home vs. away, in favor of going low in this matchup. The Under is 18-13 in St. Louis games … 6-1 over the Blue’s last seven road games and 5-1-3 in the last nine meetings between St. Louis and Buffalo.
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