Calgary Flames vs Buffalo Sabres: Predictions and Odds

Where: KeyBank Center – Buffalo, N.Y.

When: Wednesday, November 27, 7PM EST

How (TV/Radio): MSG Buffalo | WFAN

Calgary Flames (Away)

Head Coach: Bill Peters{All-Time 198-175-64}

Road games are tough as it is.

The controversy surrounding the Calgary Flames and head coach Bill Peters won’t make things any easier.

Accusations from former players have been thrown at Peters over the past week.

Given the current state of the team before the controversy, going only 3-5-2 in their last ten games, this new news is sure to only weaken the team and their morale even more.

It was announced late last night that head coach Bill Peters will not be behind the bench for the Flames in tonight’s game.

Offense

Pros:

The Calgary Flames have managed to muster the third-most shots on goal so far this season behind only the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs.

It doesn’t always add up as their shooting percentage only sits at 7.6 percent, but the more shots fired on a team like Buffalo, the better.

Although their faceoff percentage only ranks 23rd in the league, the Flames have a significant advantage over the Buffalo Sabres.

The Flames percentage sits at 48.8 percent which should give them a big advantage in puck possession against Buffalo’s 45.7 faceoff percentage.

The Flames have scored one more goal this season than the Buffalo Sabres.

Cons:

As mentioned earlier, their shooting percentage sits at only 7.6 percent.

That is the worst shooting percentage in the entire league.

Defense

Pros:

The Calgary Flames have a substantial advantage over the Buffalo Sabres when it comes to the penalty kill.

The Flames actually have the sixth-best penalty kill in the NHL right now with a 84.9 percent kill rate.

We struggle to find more pros.

Cons:

They average more penalty minutes per game than the Sabres which will put their penalty killing numbers at risk.

They have allowed four shorthanded goals against.

Goaltending

Expect David Rittich to be in net for the Flames Wednesday night.

Rittich has managed to keep a winning record this season, going 10-7-4.

Despite the poor play of the team in front of him, Rittich has managed a respectable goals-against average of 2.80 and .912 save percentage.

He has also accumulated two shutouts thus far this season.

Head Coach: Ralph Krueger{All-Time 30-32-10 BUF, EDM}

After an incredible start to the season that made many believe that the Sabres were finally going to live up to their potential, things all started to fall apart.

The Sabres sit barely above .500 with a record of 11-10-3 and have gone only 2-7-1 in their last ten games.

Even Calgary will be a test for them.

Offense

Pros:

The Buffalo Sabres come into this game with a noticeably better power play than their opponents.

The Sabres have a 19.2 percent power play – good for 16th in the league.

The Flames’ power play sits only at 16.3 percent.

The Sabres have a 9.2 shooting percentage.

Nothing overly amazing but significantly better than the Flames’ last place 7.6 percent.

The Sabres have a higher goals-per-game average than the Flames.

The Sabres sit just shy of averaging three goals per game this season.

Cons:

That horrendous faceoff percentage.

Not only do the Flames rank higher than the Sabres in that category, but so does every other team in the NHL.

Defense

Pros:

The Buffalo Sabres sit fifth in the league when it comes to average goals allowed per game.

Their opponents sit at 19th in the category.

In fact, the Sabres have allowed the seventh-fewest shots against this season out of all teams.

Buffalo has the 14th-best combined save percentage in the league at .907.

Calgary sits at 17th. They have combined for three shutouts this season where Calgary has two.

They average fewer penalty minutes per game than their opponents. The more time spent out of the penalty box, the better for the Sabres.

Cons:

The Sabres penalty kill ranks 26th in the league.

Their penalty killing percentage sits at only a 73.7 percent success rate.

All in all, a very injured team is taking to the ice Wednesday night, including the recent concussion of defensive superstar Rasmus Dahlin.

Goaltending

Linus Ullmark is expected to be in goal for the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night against the Calgary Flames.

Ullmark has gone 5-5-1 so far this season and has put together a goals-against-average of 2.91 and a .915 save percentage. He has one shutout on the season.

This will be the first meeting between these two teams this season.

They last faced off on January 16 where the Buffalo Sabres came out victorious with a final score of 4-3.

Both teams are coming off of losses.

Both teams have head coaching issues (albeit one more significant than the other).

These are two young teams with a lot of potential that just can’t seem to figure it out.

Calgary went from a playoff contender last year to a struggling team this year.

And, after starting the NHL season in the first place, the Sabres have absolutely taken a nosedive.

What’s at stake is the right to take a sigh of relief. Both of these teams desperately need this win.

Questions to Answer

Will home ice trends continue?

Buffalo has a winning 6-3-2 record when playing at home while the Calgary Flames have been absolutely abysmal on the road – going just 5-9-2.

We are looking at almost identical goaltenders.

Calgary takes a low of shots but Buffalo doesn’t tend to allow very many.

How will those numbers play out?

How will the absence of head coach Bill Peters affect the team spirit of the Calgary Flames?

Will it have a negative or positive impact on the team?

Calgary Flames Injury Report

D Travis Hamonic – day-to-day (lower-body)

F Sam Bennett – DL (upper-body)

F Austin Czarnik – DL (lower-body)

D Juuso Valimaki – IR/NR (knee)

Buffalo Sabres Injury Report

D Matt Hunwick – IR/NR (neck)

F Vladimir Sobotka – DL (knee)

F Kyle Okposo – DL (concussion)

F Marcus Johansson – DL (upper-body)

D Jake McCabe – day-to-day (undisclosed)

F Evan Rodrigues – day-to-day (lower-body)

F Tage Thompson – DL (upper-body)

D Rasmus Dahlin – day-to-day (concussion)

Calgary Flames vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Odds

The latest odds for the Flames vs Sabres game are provided by bet365 NJ, DraftKings Sportsbook, and SugarHouse.

Good luck!

Moneyline