NHL Hockey
2007-11-09 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Buffalo Sabres
A Sports Betting Pick by Grga
9th Nov 2007, 19:30 ETBuffalo Sabres
After losing their second straight conference final, Buffalo failed to re-sign two of their three top scorers Daniel Briere (32 G,63 A in 81 games played) and Chris Drury (37 G,32 A in 77 games) because of no money in salary cap. Third player who left Buffalo is RW Dainius Zubrus(4G,4A in 19 games).
Interesting fact is that the team didn’t brought single player. Coach Lindy Ruff instead got some players from their AHL team in Rochester.
How is Buffalo playing without Briere and Drury? Well in 14 games this season Buffalo has 6-7-1 (W-L-OTL) score. Compare that to last season first 14 games and score of 9-3-2. But the problem isn’t in offence.
The team scored 43 goals (13th in league) and has 3.01 GFA (8th in league). Buffalo has big injury problems in defence and that is the main reason for their 3.15 GAA (26th in league).
D Teppo Numinen missed all games because of heart surgery and will be out till mid December. D Dmitri Kalinin missed last 6 games with strained right knee and will return in 4 weeks. D Jaroslav Spacek missed 6 of last 7 games with shoulder injury. D Nolan Prat has strained groin, missed last game and is highly doubtful.
Sabres centers Tim Conolly and Adam Mair are two new injured players and will miss this game. Connolly has been Buffalo's most consistent forward, and was tied for team lead with 12 points (11 assists) in 13 games. Mair has two goals and one assist in 13 games.
Toronto Raptors
Two seasons in row Toronto misses the playoffs. That meant immediate changes in roster.
G Jean Sebastien Aubin, C Travis Green, RW Jeff O’Neill, C Michael Peca and C Yanic Perreault left the team. But Maple Leafs have had little success with signing free-agents this summer.
LW Jason Blake (40G,29A with the Islanders last season) and GK Vesa Toskala (38 GP,2.35GAA, .908 SV% with San Jose) are biggest new names in team.
Biggest problem for coach Paul Maurice this season is bad defence. With 61 conceded goal and 3.75 GAA Toronto has second worst defence in NHL.
Both goaltenders Vesa Toskala and Andrew Raycroft are in bad form. D Carlo Colaiacovo and RW Darcy Tacker are out injured.
H2H this season
15.10.2007 Buffalo-Toronto 5-4 OT
H2H last season
24.03.2007 Toronto-Buffalo 4-1
23.03.2007 Buffalo-Toronto 5-4
03.03.2007 Toronto-Buffalo 1-3
27.02.2007 Toronto-Buffalo 1-6
11.01.2007 Buffalo-Toronto 2-4
06.01.2007 Toronto-Buffalo 3-4
22.11.2006 Buffalo-Toronto 7-4
04.11.2006 Buffalo-Toronto 1-4
The Verdict
Both teams struggle this season.
Injury troubles in Buffalo defence left the team with only 2 defensive pairs who are spending too much time on ice. On the other side Toronto’s defence is one of the weakest in league.
Both teams play attacking hockey and there will be a lot space for excellent attackers.
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Take Toronto to win on the MLand over 6 total goals
