Welcome to NHL Predictions! Each day, Last Word On Hockey will break down every game and give our NHL predictions for each game. In today’s NHL predictions, we’ll cover the three games happening on November 24th. This will include a featured game that should be must-watch hockey. The featured game today is the Edmonton Oilers vs Arizona Coyotes.
NHL Predictions
Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers
Head-to-Head: Sabres 1 – 0 Panthers
The Buffalo Sabres are on a rapid decline after looking like a playoff-calibre team only a month ago. Through the month of November, the team has set a record of 1-7-1. The team has continued to fall apart, with a once very successful lineup being shifted at an almost game-to-game basis. Newcomers in Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju have felt the bulk of these changes, often being overlooked in favour of players like Marco Scandella and Jake McCabe.
Headed into Sunday’s matchup against the strong Florida Panthers, Buffalo will continue to make changes. This includes demoting star rookie Victor Olofsson all the way down to the fourth-line at even strength. This is a perplexing move, given Olofsson has scored six points in his last seven games, but the Sabres are desperate for a spark. Maybe demoting their star youngster will accomplish this.
In the face of the Panthers, though, finding this spark isn’t likely. Florida has won five of their last seven games and has looked very strong. They’re a rough-and-tough lineup, led by the old-school fashions of Joel Quenneville. With Aaron Ekblad looking red-hot lately, with four points in his last two games, the Panthers should have no trouble bypassing the struggling and confused, Buffalo lineup.
Prediction: Panthers win 4-3.
Carolina Hurricanes vs Detroit Red Wings
Head-to-Head: Hurricanes 1 – 0 Red Wings
The next game on the schedule tells a very similar story: a dominant team should have no issue toppling their struggling foes. In this case, those foes happen to be the Detroit Red Wings, who have yet to truly claw their way out of their rebuild. This is despite reeling in a tremendous offensive boost in Robby Fabbri. The Wings saw a burst of success in the middle of the month, with a quick three-win stint, but have set an abysmal overall record of 3-7-2 in November. This includes a whopping 5-1 loss on Saturday, against the equally struggling New Jersey Devils.
The Wings are simply not ready to compete yet. They’ve allowed the most goals in the league through their first 25 games and rank in the bottom-three in goals-for. What’s worse, one of their only bright spots succumbed an injury in the game against New Jersey. Anthony Mantha left the game early and is expected to be, “out for a little bit of time,” per Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill. This means, for their matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Wings will be missing their leading scorer.
This is going to damper things, to say the least. The Hurricanes have done a tremendous job of building off of last year’s success. They rank eighth in the league headed into Sunday’s bout, having won five of their last six. Of these five, all but two were won by at least two goals, including an 8-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. The Hurricanes are red-hot once again and, simply put, are the much better team here. With Mantha out and the Red Wings at a loss for words, Carolina could have a fire sale when they visit the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Prediction: Hurricanes win 6-2.
Edmonton Oilers vs Arizona Coyotes
Head-to-Head: Oilers 0 – 1 Coyotes
The last time these two teams met up, the Coyotes managed to sneak out with an overtime win. Edmonton will surely remember this and aren’t likely to let it happen again. To be more specific, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl won’t let it happen again. The duo has been truly incredible, blessing the fans with historical play on a nightly basis. They’ve established themselves as the best players in the league. Through the last 10 days (in five games) McDavid has netted an incredible 15 points, while Draisaitl is close behind with 11 of his own. McDavid is also currently on a 10-game point streak.
The duo has been magical but they’ll face off against an equally magical goaltender. In a recent poll of NHL.com writers, Darcy Kuemper topped the league’s goalies in Vezina Trophy voting. In fact, he almost doubled the votes received by any other goalie.
That’s a truly amazing statement considering Kuemper hadn’t solidified his starting role officially until this season. With the role, though, he’s very much impressed. Through 15 games, Kuemper currently has an amazing, league-low, 1.93 goals-against-average. He also has a .935 save percentage, good for second in the league behind 2019 Vezina nominee Robin Lehner.
While McDavid and Draisaitl are incredible, they’ll go head-to-head with the goalie that’s perhaps best equipped to shut them down. The match between Edmonton and Arizona may not seem exciting at first glance but could make for one of the best games of this early season. In the end, though, the Oilers are a much more sound lineup that should be able to squeak by the Coyotes, thanks to the added depth from players like James Neal and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Prediction: Oilers win 3-2.
Main Photo:
