The Buffalo Sabres (31-23-4) look to continue their push for a playoff spot with a fourth consecutive win against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets (19-35-6) Tuesday night.
The Sabres are among the league’s leading scorers with a 3.78 goals-for average and should be confident of another productive outing against a weak Columbus defense. Bookmaker BetOnline has the odds at -150 for Buffalo to score over 3.5 goals in the game. The goals line for the Blue Jackets stands at 2.5 with the odds for the over at -140.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 28th, 9:30 A.M. (EST)
The team’s high-octane offense has given Buffalo a realistic chance to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011. The current 11-year streak is the longest postseason drought ever in the NHL and the Sabres would love nothing more than finally shaking the monkey off their back.
Buffalo is currently just outside the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference, which makes Tuesday’s clash vitally important for the team. They are huge favorites for the contest and anything else than two points would be a major letdown for the side.
Head coach Don Granato will hope to get Rasmus Dahlin back on Tuesday, but even if he remains out, the team should be more than good enough to defeat a team with the worst record in the league.
Even with Dahlin missing, Buffalo still has a lot of firepower and crushed Washington in the last game without him 7-4. Dylan Cozens had an outstanding game with his first career hat trick and became the fifth player on the roster with at least 50 points for the year. Tage Thompson tops the list with 79 points and will look to add to his 40 goals on Tuesday.
While the Sabres are hot, Columbus is simply limping its way over the finish line. There was a lot of excitement around the team after the Blue Jackets managed to snap up Johnny Gaudreau in the offseason, but the squad has suffered a number of injuries and the team’s goaltenders simply haven’t been good enough.
It’s a meeting between one of the best offensive teams in the league and one of the worst defenses. Columbus has allowed 3.67 goals per game and only two teams have done worse. They even gave up nine goals to Buffalo in the last head-to-head meeting, which shows that there are a lot of shortcomings at the back. But at least the Blue Jackets can’t do much worse on Tuesday.
