Tampa Bay Lightning vs Buffalo Sabres Prediction: Expect a Total Over

Prediction for the NHL match which will take place on March 1. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Tampa Bay continues to engage in an absolutely uncharacteristic activity - the battle to make the playoffs. We're used to the Lightning getting into cup battles without much trouble, being among the main favorites for the season, but now the situation looks much tougher. From the very beginning of the regular season, they started to lose surprisingly many points, and then every time, there was a feeling that now they would be able to make serious progress and win back a few spots, but then again, there was a series of failures. In the last six meetings, they have picked up only four points, beating the Islanders and New Jersey 4:2 and 4:1, respectively, but that's good enough for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Buffalo is also disappointing. Several years in a row, the Blades did not even try to intervene in the fight for cup spots, but last season, they were one step away from ultimate success. It seemed that the young and ambitious gang and now will certainly try to make it to the playoffs, but we see nothing of the sort. They had a poor first part of the season, and after that, although they have improved, but it is probably too late. In the last eight meetings, Yellow-Blue won five victories, losing only to Florida twice - 0:3 and 2:3, as well as Anaheim - 3:4. Buffalo is 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, 11 points behind the top 8.

Tampa Bay has a surprisingly modest regular season, but even with numerous problems, the Lightning remain inside the playoff zone, while having a prohibitive tournament motivation to not only maintain their position in the Cup eight but also to climb higher would certainly not be unnecessary. Buffalo has no such goals; they are far from the top 8 and, therefore, play well only occasionally. In addition, the Blades have a very tough road trip ahead of them, as they have won only one of the previous eight head-to-head meetings at Amalie Arena.

We have every reason to expect high goal-scoring activity from the upcoming clash. In the last six head-to-head meetings, Tampa Bay and Buffalo have scored 47 pucks against each other (7.83 per game on average). In addition, the Lightning scored a bunch of goals, and in the last eight meetings, they have scored 39 goals (4.88 average per game).