NHL

Rangers at sabres

    Today we have a battle of two eastern conference teams the Rangers and the Sabres. The Rangers have already clinched their spot in the playoffs, but they are looking to advance to a higher seed as they are only 5 points out of first in the Metro. The Sabres are not technically out of the playoff picture yet, but a lot of things would have to happen in order for them to make it in. All things considered I don’t believe the Sabres will make the playoffs, but I don’t think they had a bad season. I don’t follow them religiously so I’m not sure what the preseason expectations of the fans were but sitting at 77 pts and only 6 pts behind the Panthers sounds pretty good to me.
 
   The Sabres are starting their rookie goalie tonight, Devon Levi. He was a seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft and is making his debut in the NHL.

Devon Levi was LOCKED IN last night against the Boston University Terriers. In a 3-1 win over BU, Levi came up w/ this stellar glove save, one of his 33 saves, snapping the Terriers 7-game win streak, and punching their ticket to the Beanpot Final #beanpot pic.twitter.com/3OwxMiB5qb

— 2 Goalies 1 Mic (@2Goalies1Mic) February 7, 2023

   If you ask me this is an absolutely brutal way to introduce him to the league. I mean why not get him experience when you’re playing the Coyotes or the Ducks or a team like that. Starting him off against a legit scoring offense like the Rangers is either gonna make the league see him as a god, if he does well, or make him seem like he is a pushover who isn’t worth shit. The Rangers are also starting their backup goalie tonight, but he has seen the NHL ice before. Halak has a 2.68 GAA and a 90.5 save %. Both of these teams absolutely fire shots at the net with the Sabres shooting 32.16 per game and the Rangers 31.88. With one goalie making his debut and the other being a backup I could see a lot of goals being scored.
 
    With all of this analysis and stats about shots and the goalies you can probably already see where I am going with this pick. Unless the rookie decides that tonight he’s going to put on an absolute masterclass, this over should smack.
 
Hammer: Rangers/Sabres o6.5
 
Sprinkle: Devon Levi u27.5 saves
 
Sprinkle: Correct Score: Rangers 5 Sabres 3