Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres: Game preview, predictions and odds

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres: Game preview, predictions and odds | January 17, 2024

Modified Jan 17, 2025 11:52 GMT

NHL: Seattle Kraken at Pittsburgh Penguins - Source: Imagn — Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres: Game preview, predictions and odds | January 17, 2024 - Source: Imagn

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the road to play the Buffalo Sabres on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. Pittsburgh (18-20-8) is coming off a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken. Buffalo (17-22-5) is coming off a 4-2 upset home win over Carolina.

Penguins vs Sabres: Head-to-head & key stats

Pittsburgh is 102-69-35-6 all-time against Buffalo
The Penguins are averaging 2.95 goals per game
Buffalo is 9-11-3 at home
Pittsburgh is allowing 3.67 goals per game
The Sabres are averaging 3.04 goals per game
The Penguins are 6-10-5 on the road
Buffalo is allowing 3.34 goals per game

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres: Preview

Pittsburgh is on a three-game losing streak. Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 48 points, while Rickard Rakell has 38, Bryan Rust has 34, and Evgeni Malkin has 33.

The Penguins have put goalie Tristan Jarry on waivers. Thus, they are expected to start Alex Nedeljkovic who's 7-7-4 with a 3.40 GAA and a .886 SV%. In his career against Buffalo, he's 4-2-1 with a 3.09 GAA and a .902 SV%.

Buffalo, meanwhile, upset Carolina on Wednesday night and now stays at home to play Pittsburgh. The Sabres are expected to start Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who's 14-13-4 with a 2.99 GAA and a .898 SV%. In his career against Pittsburgh, he's 2-2-1 with a 3.01 GAA and a .919 SV%.

Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 35 points, followed by Jason Zucker (33), JJ Peterka (32), Alex Tuch (32) and Rasmus Dahlin (31).

Penguins vs Sabres: Odds & Prediction

Pittsburgh is a +110 underdog while Buffalo is a -132 favorite and the over/under is set at 6.5 goals.

The Penguins haven't been playing good hockey at all as of late. They are playing poorly on defence. Buffalo, meanwhile, should be able to use its momentum from the upset win over Carolina to get off to a fast start here.

Look for Buffalo to get out to an early lead, around five minutes into the game, and cruise to a big win at home.

Prediction: Sabres 4, Penguins 2.

Penguins vs Sabres: Betting Tips

Tip 1: Sabres ML (-132)

Tip 2: Under 6.5 goals (-128)

About the author

Cole is an NHL, NFL and College Sports reporter at Sportskeeda with over 7 years of experience writing for publications like CBC, USA Today, SMG, BJPENN, Sherdog and SB Nation.

An NHL fan his whole life, Cole played rep hockey in Canada from age 5 until 17 and grew up rooting for Martin St. Louis and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His all-time favorite players are Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos, while Jon Cooper is his favorite coach of all time.

Cole attended Sheridan College and received his journalism degree in 2019. After decades of watching and reporting, he considers his knowledge of sports as his primary strength. He ensures that the same story has been reported by at least two reputed reporters before creating it.

Cole enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends and family when not reporting breaking stories. His favorite sports moment is from the 2010 Olympics, when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime to beat Team USA for the gold medal.

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Edited by Krutik Jain