Buffalo Sabres at Anaheim Ducks Matchup 10/16/19

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The Honda Center will be the site for an intriguing matchup as the Anaheim Ducks welcome the visiting Buffalo Sabres. This East-West matchup gets underway at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 16, and it will air live on Prime Ticket.

Buffalo Sabres at Anaheim Ducks Odds

Anaheim (-125) is currently favored over Buffalo (+105), and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 6 goals (-125 for the under, +105 for the over).

Buffalo is 5-1 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 4.8 units this season. That win percentage, ranked third in the league so far in this young season, is a welcomed improvement over the 33-49 record from last year’s regular season campaign. Three of its games has gone over the total, while another three have gone under. As a road team in 2019-20, the Sabres are 1-1 SU.

Buffalo has impressively converted on 42.9 percent of its power play opportunities thus far. That’s a nice improvement from last year, when it was ranked 16th in the NHL by scoring on 19.5 percent of its extra-man chances. Its penalty kill has fallen off drastically, however, as the team has gone from successfully defending 80.8 percent of all opponent power plays (ranked 12th overall last season) to 76.5 percent this year.

For the team as a whole, Buffalo has been penalized just 2.8 times per game this season. Last year, that figure was the second-lowest mark in the league at 3.1 penalties per game. After serving an average of 7.0 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team’s been forced to kill penalties for 5.7 minutes per outing this year.

With a .931 save percentage and 23.5 saves per game, Carter Hutton (4-0) has been the best option in goal for Buffalo this season. If head coach Ralph Krueger chooses to rest him, however, the team might roll with Linus Ullmark (1-1-1), who has a .931 save percentage and 2.86 goals against average this year.

Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin will both be relied on to produce for the visiting Sabres. Eichel (nine points) has tallied three goals and six assists this season while Dahlin has one goal and seven assists to his credit through the early stages of the regular season.

Anaheim is 4-2 straight up (SU) and has netted moneyline bettors 2.3 units this season. Five of its contests have gone under the total, while one has gone over and none have pushed. It’s 2-0 SU at home this year.

Anaheim has killed off a remarkable 84.2 percent of all penalties, a few points up from the 79.7 percent the team recorded a year ago (when it was ranked 20th in the NHL). It’s converted on 0.0 percent of its power plays this year after scoring on 17.0 percent (ranked 24th in league) last season.

Anaheim players have been sent to the penalty box 3.7 times per game this season. Last year, that number was at 3.9, the fourth-worst mark in the NHL. After serving an average of 9.0 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team has had to stave off opponent power plays for 8.3 minutes per outing this season.

John Gibson has stopped 28.6 shots per game as the top selection in the crease for Anaheim. Gibson has three wins and two losses to his credit and has recorded a solid 1.82 goals against average and a .941 save percentage this year.

The Ducks will be led on offense by Ondrej Kase (one goal, three assists) and Hampus Lindholm (zero goals, four assists).

Buffalo Sabres at Anaheim Ducks Betting Predictions

Prediction: SU Winner – Sabres, O/U – Over

Betting Trends

  • The under has hit in four of Anaheim’s last five outings.
  • The Sabres are 3-1 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 4-1 in games where they’re in the penalty box for fewer than 10 total minutes.
  • After posting a 5-3 record in games decided by a shootout last year, Buffalo is off to a 1-0 start in shootouts this season. Anaheim was 3-3 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
  • Buffalo has scored 4.0 goals per game (while giving up just 2.0) in their last three games (the team’s a perfect 3-0 SU over that span)