Boston has once again proven to be one of the best teams in the East, if not the whole league. Buffalo enters Thursday’s game as big but valuable underdogs.
Boston is one of the best in East
The Boston Bruins’ strong season has been one of the most talked about NHL topics in recent months. The huge losses of the summer have meant basically nothing in the standings, as the Bruins are thundering ahead in the shared top spot in the conference. Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha have emerged as leading players, covering nicely for the summer’s losses. Both are on their way to a career year in terms of points.
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Boston is still a bit of a tricky team to analyze. The Bruins are not a powerhouse team in expected goals. Of course, a good 51% is an okay number, especially if your goaltending is consistently at a high level. Jeremy Swayman has been even better than Linus Ullmark this season. Considering that, Boston truly has an enviable situation in goal.
Thompson’s return helps Buffalo
In Buffalo, the season has been difficult because of both poor performances and bad luck. Recording just 46% of expected goals is simply not enough for most teams and certainly not for Buffalo. As for bad luck, the Sabres have had their share with injuries to several core players. Jack Quinn has yet to play a game this season, and now Alex Tuch is also sidelined.
Luckily for the Sabres, Tage Thompson returned to the lineup in the last game. While Thompson’s 13 points in 17 games is nothing like the fireworks we saw last season, the return of the 6’6” tall skill player brings a huge boost to the offense. Buffalo’s goal average of 3.57 last season has plummeted to 2.85 this season. The Sabres need more offensive effort to climb up from the current seventh place in the Atlantic Division.
Juicy odds for the Sabres
Boston is undoubtedly the favorite for the match by a clear margin. The Bruins have an edge in all significant areas, and home advantage will be another plus for them.
However, betting is about playing odds rather than guessing the winner of the match. From this point of view, Buffalo is an interesting pick, even though they enter the match as big underdogs. My breakeven line for the away win in regular time is +280 while Unibet has a much higher +335 available. We can invest three units, which will keep the risk small but still return a nice profit in case Buffalo shows up with a strong performance.
Tip: Buffalo Sabres in regulation @ +335
Units: 3/10
The match will start on 12/7/2023 at 7:00 PM EST.
The odds are from the time of publication of the article and are subject to change.
Esa Kostet
X: @konekostet
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Register and Bet $25 on any match (min odds +100). Win or lose, you’ll get $100 in bonus bets!
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