Game: Florida Panthers vs. Buffalo Sabres

Date: Saturday, October 12, 2024

Location: KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY

TV: MSG network

The Florida Panthers (52-24-6 last season) travel to KeyBank Center on Saturday where they will play the Buffalo Sabers (39-37-6 last year).

The Florida Panthers were on the right side of the scoreboard with a 6-4 win over the Bruins in their last game. Florida received 15 penalty minutes for this contest. The Panthers had a solid offensive performance in this win. Additionally, they had six power play opportunities but failed to score. In this game, they scored on 6 of their 35 shots on goal.

The Florida Panthers’ opponents had 291 power play opportunities (2nd in ice hockey) and scored 51 goals. The Panthers had 2,279 shot attempts against them and owned a save percentage of .913. Florida took 2,764 shots and held a shooting percentage of 9.6%. At even strength, the Panthers allowed opponents to score 147 goals while scoring 202 goals. Florida accumulated 268 power play opportunities and scored 63 goals during those advantages, giving them a rate of 23.51%. Last season they scored 110 points and their points percentage was 0.671. When it comes to scoring, the Florida Panthers scored 265 goals (11th in the league) and allowed 198 last year.

The player between the pipes in this game is Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky appeared in 700 contests during his NHL career. He compiled an overall record of 396-224-55 and started in 684 games. The opponent has scored 1,738 goals against Bobrovsky in his professional career and his average goals conceded per game is 2.59. Bobrovsky has seen 20,419 shot attempts against him and saved 18,681. His save percentage is .915 in his 40,323 minutes played. Over his career, Bobrovsky has 396 quality starts and his quality starts percentage is .579.

In their last game, Buffalo played the Devils in a match where the Sabers went home with a record of 3-1. They had two power play opportunities in this game but were unable to score. Of the 18 shots they attempted, the Sabers scored 1 goal.

Buffalo attempted 2,534 shots (15th in hockey) and had a shooting percentage of 9.63% while allowing 2,402 shots to their opponents. They recorded a penalty kill rate of 79.84% on the opposing team’s 243 power play chances and their save rate was 89.9%. They had 223 power play chances and achieved a power play rate of 16.59%. The Sabers scored 207 goals at even strength and 37 goals (30th in the league) on the power play. A total of 243 goals were scored, 194 goals when the team was evenly matched and 49 goals when the team was outnumbered. Last season, the Buffalo Sabers finished the season with 244 goals, 84 points and a points percentage of .512.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be seen as an opponent between the pipes. Luukkonen has a career record of 47-41-10 and has started 100 games in goal. Luukkonen’s quality start rate is 55.2% and he has qualified for 53 quality start appearances in his professional career. He has amassed 2,666 saves out of 2,950 shots taken against him, giving him a save percentage of .904. Teams average 2.98 goals per game and he has conceded a total of 284 goals. He started in 96 games and played a total of 5,711 minutes.

Who will win tonight’s NHL game against the spread or moneyline?

Josh’s pick: Take Buffalo

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