Play on the Total and Side in Buffalo vs. Detroit

Sabers vs. Red Wings, 7:00 ET

If I may go back to my article from yesterday and share one line from it: "Both teams are filled with talent and can light up the lamps all night long." The first period featured four goals. That's not a good start when you're looking at the under six for the game. The Rangers scored six alone and the Lightning put up another three goals. It wasn't pretty, but we can bounce back here today.

This is a matchup of two teams that aren't going to make the playoffs. Normally that doesn't matter to me, but neither is technically eliminated either. If the Red Wings lose tonight, I think they would be out. If the Sabers win, they keep their hopes alive. At most, Detroit could end their season with 89 points and two more points than the second wild card spot holder New York. Buffalo has played pretty well this season and has owned the Red Wings this season. In the three games against Detroit, they won two of the three games with ease and one game in a shootout. They've been decent lately with three wins in their past five games. They lost their most recent game at Florida 2-1, but the Panthers are playing great lately. It is hard enough to beat the same team three times in one season, but the Sabers are definitely the better team in this game.

The Red Wings have been solid enough at home this season and are 19-15-4. Over the past five games they've been able to win four of them and only one of them was a close game. They just went through Canada and after dropping the first of the road trip to Winnipeg, they won the next two games against the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens. They've been playing very good offensively lately putting up 22 goals over their past five games. Even in the losses against the Sabers, they have scored at least three goals in each game. Detroit is going to rely on Alex Nedeljkovic to protect the net today. He has two starts against the Sabers and has allowed 12 goals in the two games.

I have to expect that there will be a lot of goals scored in this game once again. At -135, the total is juiced really high, but I do think that they will go over the 6.5 total and I'll play it that way. I also will put a play on the Sabers. I don't think Detroit's goalie will be able to stop anything tonight and Buffalo will be able to roll in this one. I'll back the Sabers at -115.

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