Ice Hockey | Friday, December 9, 2022 9:06 AM

Buffalo Sabres vs Pittsburgh Penguins Best Bet: They Giveth, We Taketh Away

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US Sports Expert

Buffalo Sabres vs Pittsburgh Penguins Best Bet: Friday, December 9th

The Buffalo Sabres are scoring goals in droves, so as long as they giveth, we shall continue to taketh the dough! Our resident pucks pundit Ej Garr is again offering a line with plus money attached to the action, and you may now join along as we all watch the lamps being lit on Friday night in upstate New York.

In this article:

Buffalo Sabres vs Pittsburgh Penguins Preview

December 9, 00:05 (UK time)

It was a goal-scoring bonanza on Wednesday night, and we all enjoyed the payday that came with the line move to the Over 7 with Buffalo and Columbus. As you read in my Hump Day preview for that game, there have been no less than 9 goals scored in the last 5 Buffalo games now, and I fully expect that trend to continue.

The line setters are so impressed with the Sabres’ ability to score lately, that we have a pick ‘em on the Moneyline for this affair but we’re not going there. In classic Mayor of Value fashion, I am not settling for the juice I see on the 6.5 to go over the total. You guess it, we are moving it up because the value is with the straight 7 as it was on Wednesday night.

From all indications, I see 2.25 being offered at most major bookmakers, and you also see me say that when teams are doing certain things we have to ride it out. In the now, Buffalo can’t be stopped and they aren’t doing enough on defense to take us off this total either.

Buffalo scored 9 damn goals on Wednesday night, and it was 6 – 0 before the end of the opening stanza. I am sorry my bonus tip fell through the cracks, and I am still shocked that one team scored 6 goals and Columbus had no response to any of it.

That was until the second period got underway, and it took some time but the Jackets finally broke the ice, if you will, and scored two goals in the blink of an eye to cash our Over 7. What a night it was for Tage Thompson, right?

Thompson became only the third U.S-born player to score 5 goals in one game, and he also added a helper to earn 6 points from the decisive win, 9 – 4. Mark Pavelich was the last American to do it in 1983, and the only other time it happened came way back in 1920 when Mickey Roach did it. The record for goals in one game also happened in 1920, but we’ll save that story for a different day.

Now, this is a home-and-home on back-to-back nights, and I will admit that I can be a little gun-shy taking game 1 totals in these situations. If Buffalo wasn’t going bonkers at the moment throwing rubber at the frame in droves as they are, I might not be as easy to jump on a 7-goal expectation.

However, I just watched that whole game on TNT with Buffalo and Columbus, so what else can we do, think it will stop now. Pittsburgh is riding a 3-game win streak coming into this home-and-home with the Sabres, and oh, lookie there. The Pengs scored 4 goals on Vegas, 6 on St. Louis, and 4 more against that same Jackets team last time out, totaling 14 nets during this run.

Pittsburgh is scoring goals, Buffalo can’t stop anyone, and they can’t be stopped right now either. Momentum for both teams on offense means one thing for us all…