{"id":460938,"date":"2025-01-17T06:51:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T11:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460938"},"modified":"2025-01-17T06:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T11:51:34","slug":"nhl-predictions-january-17th-pittsburgh-penguins-buffalo-sabres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/17\/nhl-predictions-january-17th-pittsburgh-penguins-buffalo-sabres\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions January 17th Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> travel to Buffalo to face the Sabres<\/a> in a pivotal Eastern Conference matchup at KeyBank Center. Welcome back to NHL Prediction<\/a>s here on Last Word on Hockey<\/em>! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s game, the Penguins aim to turn recent struggles around, while the Sabres look to gain some traction in the Atlantic Division race.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Buffalo Sabres<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Season Head-to-Head:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguins 1-0 Sabres<\/p>\n

Time:<\/strong>\u00a07:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
\nTV:<\/strong>\u00a0SportsNet Pittsburgh; MSG-Buffalo; ESPN+<\/p>\n

This game marks the second of the season between the Penguins and the Sabres. Both teams find themselves in the thick of a playoff race, making this contest crucial for points.<\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Penguins are struggling. They\u2019re on a three-game losing skid, while their starting goaltender Tristan Jarry<\/a> was moved down to the AHL again. The floundering Pittsburgh team is led by captain Sidney Crosby<\/a>. He has 48 points in 46 games. Behind him, Rickard Rakell<\/a> has 22 goals and 38 points in 46 games. Evgeni Malkin<\/a> has recently returned to the lineup, he has 33 points in 42 games. Pittsburgh\u2019s offence has struggled recently, but it will need to find its form for the Penguins to get the win against Buffalo.<\/p>\n

In net, Joel Blomqvist<\/a> is likely to make the start. Following Tristan Jarry\u2019s demotion to the AHL, Joel Blomqvist was brought up to play for Pittsburgh. Blomqvist filled in for Jarry at the beginning of the season as well. In eight games, Blomqvist had a 3-5 record with a .904 save percentage. With this being Jarry\u2019s second demotion, expect Blomqvist to have a longer leash to stretch his legs in the league this time.<\/p>\n

The Sabres\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Buffalo Sabres are looking to avoid a 14th<\/sup> straight season missing the playoffs. Unforunately for them, they\u2019re at the bottom of the wild card race, on the outside looking in. The team is 17-22-5 due to an elongated losing streak earlier in the season. Tage Thompson<\/a> leads the team in scoring with just 35 points in 39 games. Buffalo has struggled to score, although veterans like Jason Zucker<\/a> and Alex Tuch<\/a> have done well. Former Penguin Zucker has 33 points in 44 games, while Tuch has 32 points in 44 games behind him.<\/p>\n

In net, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the likely starter for Buffalo. He is 14-13-4 with an .898 save percentage. Once a highly-touted goalie prospect, Luukkonen has struggled to fully live up to his perceived potential. However, the Sabres backup is another goaltender with high potential. Devon Levi<\/a> is 2-6, however, he has the potential to be a great goaltender in the league in the future. Playing against Crosby and Malkin could be good experience for the youngster if he draws into the game.<\/p>\n

NHL Prediction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh is coming off three straight embarrassing losses. There is no better stage for the team to rebound than against the worst team in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

NHL Prediction:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguins win 5-3.<\/p>\n

Prop Bet for the Night<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Total Goals Over 7 \u00a0(+180)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 With the Penguins offence primed to explode, and a lacklustre defence behind them, expect some goal-scoring in this game.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire – Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins travel to Buffalo to face the Sabres in a pivotal Eastern Conference matchup at KeyBank Center. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL\u2019s games. In tonight\u2019s game, the Penguins aim to turn recent struggles around, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":460943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,4547,4548,4524],"tags":[2201,6254,5689,544,2511,4979,6123,724,140,477],"class_list":["post-460938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-penguins","category-sabres","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","tag-alex-tuch","tag-buffalo-sabres-predictions","tag-devon-levi","tag-evgeni-malkin","tag-jason-zucker","tag-joel-blomqvist","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions","tag-rickard-rakell","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-tristan-jarry"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460938"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460944,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460938\/revisions\/460944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}