Top NHL picks January 28: Bet underdog Sabres against Wild
There are 11 NHL games on the slate for Saturday and plenty of options for bettors.
The pregame narrative: The Buffalo Sabres are one of the best offensive teams in the league, and we’ll gladly take plus-money odds to bet their team total at a reasonable number. We’re also backing Buffalo plus a goal against the Minnesota Wild. Lastly, we’ll lay a goal with the Boston Bruins against the struggling Florida Panthers.
Find our top NHL picks for January 28 below.
Odds as of 8:58 a.m. on 01/28/2023.
NHL picks
Best Bet: Sabres over 3 goals (+114)
Buffalo’s offence is running hot and betting the team to score three or more at plus-money odds is a good call, especially considering the opponent.
The Sabres have scored 23 goals across their last six games, marking an average of 3.83. That’s not far off their league-leading mark of 3.79, showing that their recent offensive success isn’t some sort of aberration.
Their opponent, the Wild, isn’t playing particularly well in their own zone. They rank a very mediocre 16th in expected goals against per 60 (3.21) over the last week, according to Natural Stat Trick. Even worse has been their goaltending, as they place 26th in team save percentage (.885) in the same time period.
As a result, Minnesota’s allowed three goals or more in three of the squad’s last four contests.
Three goals feel pretty commonplace for the Sabres. Therefore we’ll gladly take them going over this total at these odds against a Wild team not excelling defensively.
Key stat: Buffalo has scored three goals or more in six consecutive games.
Quick picks
Sabres +1 (-103): Surprisingly, Buffalo’s one of the best road teams in the NHL with a 15-7-1 record away from KeyBank Center. The Sabres have won nine of their last 11 road contests and are riding a five-game winning streak in general.
The Wild, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four with all being by two goals or more. We’re pretty confident Buffalo can keep this one close at a minimum, and potentially squeak out a win.
Bruins -1 (+104): The Panthers have lost three consecutive games and are playing their second in as many nights after losing 4-3 to the Los Angeles Kings yesterday.
Florida’s 1-4-2 record in contests with 0 days’ rest is pretty dreadful, showing they’ll be at even more of a disadvantage against the NHL’s best team.
Boston’s coming off a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but that’s really nothing to knock the squad for. The Bruins have still won five of their last six, with all of those victories coming by two goals or more.
