The Carolina Hurricanes (50-19-9) play the 2nd of a 3-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres (38-32-7) Saturday. Puck drop from KeyBank Center is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Below, we analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the Hurricanes vs. Sabres odds, and make our expert NHL picks and predictions.
The Hurricanes opened their road trip by laying an egg in a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators Thursday. Carolina leads the Metropolitan Division with 109 points and is just 1 point clear of the second-place New Jersey Devils but has a game in hand.
The Sabres suffered a damaging 2-1 loss on the road against the Florida Panthers Tuesday but picked up 2 important points with a 7-6 victory at the Detroit Red Wings Thursday.
While Buffalo is not mathematically eliminated from the postseason chase just yet, it trails Florida and the New York Islanders by 6 points for the final Eastern Conference Wild Card. The Panthers and Isles have 3 games remaining and the Sabres only have 5 left so the wiggle room is quickly disappearing for Buffalo to sneak into the playoffs.