by Chuck Sommers
Friday, Feb 24, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL
Where to watch: BSFL, MSG-B, SN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Panthers -180, Sabres +155
FanDuel: Panthers -184, Sabres +152
BetMGM: Panthers -190, Sabres +155
Caesars: Panthers -189, Sabres +158
Season record
Sabres: 29-23-4
Panthers: 29-25-6
The All-Star break is over, the second half of the NHL season can officially begin, and we're bound for what should be a very exciting second half of the hockey season. Basketball and hockey are about to rule the roost in the sports betting world once the Super Bowl is done with, and we should all be very excited for what's to come. When the trade deadline hits and players switch teams, you know things are about to get hectic over these final 30 games or so. One way you can stay tuned with the action is following what our champion handicappers are doing in the world of the NHL. Look at ASA, Inc., reeling in a $6,750 profit off a 17-9-0 run. Al McMordie is also doing well on the ice with a 13-5-0 run and a net profit of $6,050. Scott Rickenbach has also been hanging strong with a lot of betting action, in what's been an unusual year, with a 24-18-0 run and reeling in $5,950. You know this action is going to be great now that games are back and a busy second half if on the horizon. All you need to do is head to our BEST BETS page at bigal.com to find out all of what we're trying to tell you. Make sure you're locked in at bigal.com and go to our Best Bets page to find out what our champion handicappers have to say in the world of the NHL!
Sabres - Panthers preview, prediction and analysis
The Buffalo Sabres will be playing the Florida Panthers on Friday, February 24 in Sunrise, Florida.
The Buffalo Sabres won against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, February 23 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida with a score of 6-5 in overtime. The Buffalo Sabres currently rank 6th in the Atlantic Division.
Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Dahlin each had two assists, and Eric Comrie made 36 saves for the Sabres (29-23-4), who have won three of four.
"This is a good game to bring with us because we know we can play against the best and compete night in and night out," Dahlin said. "It was a great win."
Steven Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period. He skated in on a rush and shot over Comrie's left shoulder from the right circle. Zemgus Girgensons tied it 1-1 at 11:41 when Dahlin's backdoor pass redirected five-hole off his skate.
Tage Thompson gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 9:36 of the second period, finishing a cross-ice pass from Skinner at the right post on a power play. He then made it 3-1 at 12:20 on a breakaway off a stretch pass from Skinner.
"For me, when I'm skating up the ice I'm just trying to get open and find a spot," Thompson said. "It was one of those nights where everything was coming to me."
Victor Hedman responded 16 seconds later to cut it to 3-2, scoring with a slap shot from the left circle that went in off the near post.
Jack Quinn pushed it to 4-2 at 13:25 from the right hash marks. Point got the Lightning back to within 4-3 at 5:48 of the third period, beating Comrie five-hole with a backhand on a breakaway.
Thompson completed a hat trick at 6:18 of the third period to put Buffalo ahead 5-3, slipping a backhand five-hole on Vasilevskiy on a breakaway. Thompson scored his fourth hat trick of the season for the Buffalo Sabres.
"We had to work for it," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We had to stay very dialed in and focused, and it was good to rise above that challenge. [Comrie] was really good. He didn't feel the pressure and stayed with it."
Anthony Cirelli cut it to 5-4 at 8:33, pushing a loose puck in after Erik Cernak's backhand centering pass redirected behind Comrie off the stick of Dahlin. Ross Colton tied it 5-5 with a power-play goal at 14:54.
Ilya Lyubushkin won it for Buffalo while short-handed at 1:41 of overtime. He forced a turnover on Steven Stamkos in the defensive zone, skated into the right circle and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy short side for his first goal of the season.
"I just saw a straight line and wanted to go as fast as possible," Lyubushkin said. "I saw I had a little bit of time, not a lot, and I just tried to shoot.
"It feels nice for my team, that's more important than me. We're trying to push for the playoffs right now."
The Buffalo Sabres have won five of their last 10 games as of February 22.
The Florida Panthers won against the Anaheim Ducks last Monday, February 20 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida with a score of 4-3 in overtime. The Florida Panthers currently rank 4th in the Atlantic Division.
Marc Staal, Eric Staal and Ryan Lomberg scored, and Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen each had two assists for the Panthers (29-25-6). Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.
Anaheim scored the first two goals of the game before Eric Staal cut it to 2-1 at 2:12 of the second period when he deflected Radko Gudas' shot.
"It was kids day, so you had to make sure you were ready to go," Staal said. "You want to show your kids you still got a little bit in the tank."
Marc Staal then tied it 2-2 at 17:23, tapping in a return pass from Tkachuk on a rush. Dmitry Kulikov put Anaheim back in front 3-2 at 12:51 of the third period when he scored glove side off a give-and-go with Klingberg.
Lomberg responded to tie it 3-3 at 14:09 when he got the net and deflected a one-timer by Gustav Forsling.
"We were down one, but with seven minutes left figured we would have gotten at least four more chances to score," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "If there is any hockey karma going, we were going to get one of them to go. It was a pretty one-sided game, we just couldn't put it past their [goalie]."
Carter Verhaeghe scored on a breakaway at 1:42 of overtime for the the Florida Panthers. Verhaeghe skated in and scored blocker side on Gibson after Matthew Tkachuk forced a turnover by Frank Vatrano at the blue line. It was his 30th goal of the season.
"It was pretty cool, pretty good accomplishment, but it was nice to win," Verhaeghe said. "All game it felt like we were in control and had a ton of chances. We just could not finish them. They got a couple one-off chances. It was nice to win."
The Florida Panthers have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
That was an emotionally-charged win for the Sabres, one that I don't know if they'll have enough to overcome. Panthers 4, Sabres 3
The Buffalo Sabres won against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, February 23 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida with a score of 6-5 in overtime. The Buffalo Sabres currently rank 6th in the Atlantic Division.
Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Dahlin each had two assists, and Eric Comrie made 36 saves for the Sabres (29-23-4), who have won three of four.
"This is a good game to bring with us because we know we can play against the best and compete night in and night out," Dahlin said. "It was a great win."
Steven Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period. He skated in on a rush and shot over Comrie's left shoulder from the right circle. Zemgus Girgensons tied it 1-1 at 11:41 when Dahlin's backdoor pass redirected five-hole off his skate.
Tage Thompson gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 9:36 of the second period, finishing a cross-ice pass from Skinner at the right post on a power play. He then made it 3-1 at 12:20 on a breakaway off a stretch pass from Skinner.
"For me, when I'm skating up the ice I'm just trying to get open and find a spot," Thompson said. "It was one of those nights where everything was coming to me."
Victor Hedman responded 16 seconds later to cut it to 3-2, scoring with a slap shot from the left circle that went in off the near post.
Jack Quinn pushed it to 4-2 at 13:25 from the right hash marks. Point got the Lightning back to within 4-3 at 5:48 of the third period, beating Comrie five-hole with a backhand on a breakaway.
Thompson completed a hat trick at 6:18 of the third period to put Buffalo ahead 5-3, slipping a backhand five-hole on Vasilevskiy on a breakaway. Thompson scored his fourth hat trick of the season for the Buffalo Sabres.
"We had to work for it," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We had to stay very dialed in and focused, and it was good to rise above that challenge. [Comrie] was really good. He didn't feel the pressure and stayed with it."
Anthony Cirelli cut it to 5-4 at 8:33, pushing a loose puck in after Erik Cernak's backhand centering pass redirected behind Comrie off the stick of Dahlin. Ross Colton tied it 5-5 with a power-play goal at 14:54.
Ilya Lyubushkin won it for Buffalo while short-handed at 1:41 of overtime. He forced a turnover on Steven Stamkos in the defensive zone, skated into the right circle and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy short side for his first goal of the season.
"I just saw a straight line and wanted to go as fast as possible," Lyubushkin said. "I saw I had a little bit of time, not a lot, and I just tried to shoot.
"It feels nice for my team, that's more important than me. We're trying to push for the playoffs right now."
The Buffalo Sabres have won five of their last 10 games as of February 22.
The Florida Panthers won against the Anaheim Ducks last Monday, February 20 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida with a score of 4-3 in overtime. The Florida Panthers currently rank 4th in the Atlantic Division.
Marc Staal, Eric Staal and Ryan Lomberg scored, and Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen each had two assists for the Panthers (29-25-6). Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.
Anaheim scored the first two goals of the game before Eric Staal cut it to 2-1 at 2:12 of the second period when he deflected Radko Gudas' shot.
"It was kids day, so you had to make sure you were ready to go," Staal said. "You want to show your kids you still got a little bit in the tank."
Marc Staal then tied it 2-2 at 17:23, tapping in a return pass from Tkachuk on a rush. Dmitry Kulikov put Anaheim back in front 3-2 at 12:51 of the third period when he scored glove side off a give-and-go with Klingberg.
Lomberg responded to tie it 3-3 at 14:09 when he got the net and deflected a one-timer by Gustav Forsling.
"We were down one, but with seven minutes left figured we would have gotten at least four more chances to score," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "If there is any hockey karma going, we were going to get one of them to go. It was a pretty one-sided game, we just couldn't put it past their [goalie]."
Carter Verhaeghe scored on a breakaway at 1:42 of overtime for the the Florida Panthers. Verhaeghe skated in and scored blocker side on Gibson after Matthew Tkachuk forced a turnover by Frank Vatrano at the blue line. It was his 30th goal of the season.
"It was pretty cool, pretty good accomplishment, but it was nice to win," Verhaeghe said. "All game it felt like we were in control and had a ton of chances. We just could not finish them. They got a couple one-off chances. It was nice to win."
The Florida Panthers have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
That was an emotionally-charged win for the Sabres, one that I don't know if they'll have enough to overcome. Panthers 4, Sabres 3
Betting trends
Sabres are 13-5 revenging a loss as a home favorite this season.
Sabres are 9-2 revenging a loss by 2 goals or more.
Panthers are 4-11 off a home win this season.
Projected lines
Sabres:
Jeff Skinner -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka -- Dylan Cozens -- Victor Olofsson
Casey Mittelstadt -- Peyton Krebs -- Jack Quinn
Zemgus Girgensons -- Tyson Jost -- Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin -- Henri Jokiharju
Mattias Samuelsson -- Owen Power
Jacob Bryson -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Craig Anderson
Jeff Skinner -- Tage Thompson -- Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka -- Dylan Cozens -- Victor Olofsson
Casey Mittelstadt -- Peyton Krebs -- Jack Quinn
Zemgus Girgensons -- Tyson Jost -- Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin -- Henri Jokiharju
Mattias Samuelsson -- Owen Power
Jacob Bryson -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Craig Anderson
Panthers:
Anton Lundell -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Eetu Luostarinen -- Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg -- Eric Staal -- Nick Cousins
Grigori Denisenko -- Colin White -- Givani Smith
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas
Spencer Knight
Anton Lundell -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Eetu Luostarinen -- Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg -- Eric Staal -- Nick Cousins
Grigori Denisenko -- Colin White -- Givani Smith
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas
Spencer Knight
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
