Friday’s NHL bet du jour: Pittsburgh at Buffalo

The Buffalo Sabres (6-15-3) welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins (13-10-2) to KeyBank Center in the first game of a home and home series, as these teams will meet again tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. As usual, you can find the Sabres at the bottom of the standings, while Pittsburgh has hovered around .500 throughout the season.

While the Penguins will get Evgeni Malkin back tonight, they will be without Matt Murray, who is one of the better netminders in the National Hockey League, as young Tristan Jarry will be asked to step up in his absence. Guarding the other crease will be Robin Lehner, who has been brilliant on home ice (1.80 GAA and .941 SV%), albeit in losing fashion (3-5-1).

Even though the Sabres have trouble scoring, Jarry will have his work cut out for him, as the Penguins have given up a league-worst 4.07 goals per game on the road, where they sport a -1.60 goal differential. These teams met over two weeks ago, and Pittsburgh needed a third-period rally to pull out a 5-4 overtime victory.

Working in Buffalo's favor is that they do not take too many penalties (fourth-fewest minors), while the Penguins are the most penalized team in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo's top line of Evander Kane, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart should be foaming at the mouth to take on the Penguins tonight. Too much value to pass up on the home pup at this price.

Fair Odds: Sabres +115

Others on the ice for Friday:

• Hurricanes +103
• Jets/Blues ML parlay +127

YTD: 20-18-1 +0.54 units

Be Part of the Action

Come join our growing community by simply downloading the SportsAction App through the [App Store] or [Google Play].