Red Wings vs. Buffalo Sabres: Odds, preview, best bets
Five losses in a row have followed the six-game winning streak that lifted hopes for fans of the Red Wings earlier this month. Detroit will have No. 1 goalie Alex Lyon in the crease tonight against the Buffalo Sabres (30-30-5).
The Wings are slight underdogs on the road, priced at +100 by Caesars Sportsbook. Odds are available from any of the best NHL sportsbooks, where you can find promos with first bet offers worth as much as $1,000, like Caesars.
What are we to make of the Wings this season? On one hand, they are in a position to break their playoff drought. But on the other, Detroit has been inconsistent, especially on the offensive side of the ice.
Coach Derek Lalonde must be frustrated at the ups and downs. The team hasn’t shown a penchant for beating top teams, which must worry the front office and coaching staff. It may lead to a fast Stanley exit, as in a one-and-done Stanley Cup playoffs appearance.
Detroit is 14-20-3 against teams in playoff position, as opposed to 19-5-3 vs. teams not currently playoff bound. That’s a lot of cleaning up against “the little guys” in the NHL. But when the Wings face the best teams in the NHL, they have difficulty, especially on the road: 5-11-2.
To win on the moneyline on the Sabres for Tuesday’s game, you will need to wager $120 to win $100.
If this game goes into OT, your $100 bet is worth $387, including your stake, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
- Will There Be Overtime? YES (+287 from Caesars)
- Patrick Kane Any Time Goal Scorer
- Tage Thompson Any Time Goal Scorer
- Tage Thompson Last Goal Scorer
Take a big swing for this three-leg parlay with odds of +3436 from FanDuel. A $10 winning bet would win $346. A winning $50 bet wins you $1,718. Or wager $100 and if you are successful with all three of the legs listed above in this SGP, you win a whopping $3,436.
Thompson has 36 points in 54 games, and scored a goal in a shootout on Saturday… Patrick Kane hasn’t scored a goal this month, but had seven shots on goal in his last two games.
The Red Wings sorely miss Dylan Larkin for at least three reasons:
- He’s the most aware player on the ice, and as a result, makes the best passes of any Detroit skater.
- Larkin has the quickest backhand slap shot on the roster, a weapon his line misses.
- Leadership.
There isn’t much Lalonde can do about Larkin’s absence: the captain just needs to mend. It doesn’t help that general manager Steve Yzerman decided not to pull the trigger on a trade deadline deal last week.
Stevie Y opted to rely on young players within the organization, rather than mortgage the future through a transaction that could have cost him prospects. The fans will appreciate that in 2025 and 2026, but in 2024 it’s annoying. Larkin’s injury, and the uncertainty of how the team will play when he returns, sours the taste in the mouths of Red Wing faithful.
Detroit will continue to flail while Larkin is off the ice. On Tuesday we’ll see how much the supporting cast can contribute without their leader.
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