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Florida Panthers vs. Buffalo Sabres Pick
Bob Boughner has a couple of building blocks on his roster up-front and on the blue line. And it isn’t just Barkov and Aaron Ekblad, either. 25-year-old Jonathan Huberdeau leads the team with 38 points, as he’s been a terrific facilitator for the Panthers. Huberdeau has tallied 29 assists and 9 goals for a pretty solid season.
The problems start to get revealed when not one lead player on the Panthers has a +/- in the positive. Conversely, if you look at the Sabres, there are several who are sitting in the green. Eichel, Skinner, Reinhart, Dahlin, and Pominville are all well in the positive. That’s the difference between a 12-13-3 and 20-9-4 team. The Sabres ran into five straight losses after their torrid 10-0 romp, but have since won three of their previous four games.
The negative +/-‘s are no surprise when you look at how their defence has performed this season. Luongo has played great in spots, but his GAA is still north of 3.00 and he’s just clinging on to a save percentage above 0.90. The Panthers rank 28th with 3.55 goals allowed per game. Their blue line takes a further hit on the road, with 4 goals allowed. They’ve gone just 5-8-0 on the road this season. After a big win over the Maple Leafs, expect a letdown for the Panthers in Buffalo on Tuesday.