Buffalo vs Nashville: the Predators' Success Chances Seem to be Higher

Nashville lost 1:4 to Buffalo in the first faceoff of the season. Will John Hynes' team get revenge in the upcoming confrontation? Our prediction: this time the Predators will be closer to success!

Buffalo is having another mediocre season without chance of making the playoffs. Don Granato's team refuses to be a punching bag, losing points to their opponents, but they have no real ambition anymore. Nevertheless, right now the Sabres are having the most potent run in their history. They left with no points only once in last ten games, a 6:0 to Edmonton. Also, they failed three times and won six. At this rate, they could count on cup battles, but too many points were missed earlier, so now Buffalo occupies 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Nashville is a much more powerful and status-oriented team, which is very likely to make the playoffs. The Predators have been playing smoothly, avoiding any serious upsets so they are in a comfortable standings position. In the last 13 meetings John Hynes's team lost four times and won nine. The squad goes to Buffalo in a good mood, as in the last two March games they took turns beating Philadelphia and Ottawa - 5:4 and 4:1. The Predators are in the fifth place in the Western Conference.

Buffalo and Nashville are coming into their head-to-head battle with great results. The only difference is that for the Sabres it's a short-term spark, while the Predators have been looking good the entire season. John Hynes's wards do need the points as they have not yet secured a playoff spot, while the home team is certainly not going to make it to the cup contests. As a result, we bet on the victory of Nashville.

The confrontation between Buffalo and Nashville is not marked by high scoring activity. After all, they are located in different conferences, so they play each other not often. In the last five head-to-head encounters, the opponents have shot for only 23 goals (4.60 per game). We doubt that this trend will be changed as the Predators would be content with a two-point lead, while the Sabres have no motivation whatsoever. With that in mind, a total under 5.5 pucks seems to be the optimal way to go.

Ryan Johansen is Nashville's center forward of the first lineup, which speaks volumes about his skills. He can't boast his former scoring consistency of under 60 points per season, but he's close to that mark now. In 64 meetings, the Canadian player shot 49 points (17 goals + 32 assists) and has more than ten games to go. In this situation, it is worth to look at the total over 0.5 points by Ryan Johansen.

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