The Sabres look to run their beat-up offense on Thursday night through forward Tage Thompson in a likely low-scoring game versus Chicago
The Blackhawks travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in a game postponed from Wednesday due to Buffalo’s inclimate weather. Since losing star player Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks have two wins in six games with the lowest-goals per game average with 1.67 that has them tied with the Sharks. They’ve been really missing their star as Bedard was responsible for 33 of the Blackhawks 98 goals this season and they haven’t been able to recover without him. Buffalo have been improving as of late with a 5-3-0 record since getting back star centre Tage Thompson, who is coming off a 47 goal, 98 point campaign and has 14 goals and 27 points in 34 games so far this season.
Buffalo could get their fifth win in their last seven games against the Blackhawks and would love to continue to move their team in the right direction but it will be tough when Chicago will be desperate to win a game. It should be a closer game than people expect and if you wanna get in on this action and profit, here is our best bet for tonight’s action.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly.
Pick: Tage Thompson over 3.5 shots on goal (-120)
Buffalo hasn’t been downed by the Blackhawks in regulation since 2019 with a 4-0-1 record in their last five meetings with Thompson playing a big role in the wins with goals in four straight versus Chicago. They will look to get him involved as he’s been starting to heat up with six goals and 11 points over their last ten games.
Pick: Under 6.5 goals (-140)
The Blackhawks will look to find their offensive touch again but could be downed by Sabres’ netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who’s had a good season to date with a 2.77 goals against average and 22 save performance where he held the league’s best offense in the Canucks to just one goal in a pitiful 1-0 loss. Hopefully Luukkonen gets some help this time around with Thompson heating up but it likely won’t be much with other forwards Dylan Cozens and Jeff Skinner both out.