The Buffalo Sabres (1-3-1) are on the road to face the Washington Capitals (3-0-2) for a 3 p.m. ET puck drop Sunday. Below, we analyze the Sabres-Capitals odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
Sabres at Capitals: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Saturday at 10:42 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Sabres -130 (bet $130 to win $100) | Capitals +110 (bet $100 to win $110)
- Against the spread/ATS: Sabres -1.5 (+200) | Capitals +1.5 (-250)
- Over/Under: 6 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Sabres at Capitals: Projected starting goalies
Linus Ullmark (0-1-1, 2.44 GAA, .906 SV%) at Vitek Vanecek (2-0-1, 2.90 GAA, .898 SV%)
Ullmark is expected to be the starter in the second end of the back-to-back with G Carter Hutton dealing with an injury and unlikely to be ready. Ullmark kept the Sabres in Friday’s opener in D.C., allowing three goals on 32 shots in a 4-3 shootout loss.
Vanecek allowed three goals on 27 shots in the shootout win, shutting down the Sabres for the final 21:11 of regulation and overtime, too. His save against C Sam Reinhart in the shootout sealed the victory. Vanecek started in place of G Ilya Samsonov, who is away from the team due to COVID-19 protocol.
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Sabres at Capitals: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Sabres 4, Capitals 3
Money line (ML)
The SABRES (-130) came up short by a 4-3 count Friday despite the fact the Capitals were without LW Alex Ovechkin, C Evgeny Kuznetsov and D Dmitry Orlov due to contact tracing.
If you bet the Sabres Friday and were stung in the shootout, you have to forget about it and roll the dice on them again. It’s a golden opportunity for the Sabres to pick up a road win with the Caps missing two of their top players and their No. 1 netminder.
Against the spread (ATS)
The Sabres -1.5 (+200) are a tempting play if you want to try to double up, but let’s just focus on them getting the win first. They’ll have a hard enough time doing that, let alone winning by 2 goals. Friday’s result left a sour taste in my mouth, personally. I know you’re supposed to take it game-by-game and forget about a tough loss, but sometimes it’s hard to forget when the wound is still fresh. AVOID.
Over/Under (O/U)
OVER 6 (-110) is the lean in this rematch as the Sabres look to return the favor. The Over is 4-1-1 in the past six meetings in the nation’s capital, including Friday’s total of 7 goals. And we don’t exactly have Dominik Hasek vs. Olaf Kolzig in net for this one, either.
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