The Vancouver Canucks will continue their six-game road trip with a matinee match in KeyBank Center Friday. They fought admirably, looking to erase a four-goal deficit in Pittsburgh Wednesday night, but ultimately came up just short. They suffered another significant loss as Filip Hronek was injured in Wednesday’s game, and will be playing their third game in four nights in this spot.

The Buffalo Sabres enter this matchup in good form with a record of 7-3-0 over the last 10 games and sit one point out of the playoffs as they look to snap the NHL’s longest playoff drought.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

While the Canucks showed some real heart to make it a contest, their overall performance in Pittsburgh was far from impressive and magnified some of the team’s current concerns. Defensive depth has been an issue for the Canucks this season, and they leaked plenty of chances early on versus the Penguins, while third-string netminder Arturs Silovs was not sharp.

Regardless of who plays as the second defensive pairing, it’s been a consistent flaw this season. Now the Canucks will be forced to shuffle their units with Hronek sidelined, and it is concerning that guys like Tyler Myers and Noah Juulsen will now be forced to take on bigger roles.

Over the last 10 games, the Canucks have played to an expected goal share of just 42.52% and hold a record of 5-5-0. They have been without several key bodies, such as J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, in many of those matchups, but it has been a less-than-convincing spell of play, to say the least.

Kevin Lankinen is expected to get the start in goal Friday. He holds a .909 save percentage (S%) and a 2.56 goals against average (GAA) in 15 appearances this season.

The Sabres didn’t look overly impressive during their four-game road trip but managed to post a 3-1-0 record and gain some ground in the playoff race. Things looked to even out on Wednesday, as they thoroughly outplayed the Minnesota Wild, but suffered a tough-luck loss as Filip Gustavsson stopped all 39 shots he faced.

Tage Thompson returned to the lineup in that game and looked true to form, aside from the fact he failed to finish a number of high-quality scoring chances. He finished with six shots on goal from 11 attempts.

The Sabres finished with a 29th-ranked power play last season, which was one obvious area for potential growth this season under new power play coach Seth Appert. It was hard to believe a unit featuring Rasmus Dahlin as quarterback and Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka’s one-timers from either side should be that bad.

In November, the Sabres power play has clicked 25% of the time, which has helped them achieve a strong record despite fairly middling play at even strength.

The other key to the Sabres’ recent success has been the tremendous play in goal from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Luukkonen holds a +7.1 goals saved above expected (GSAx) rating and .914 S% this season, posting a comparable +9.4 GSAx last season.

The Sabres will be without two NHL regulars as Jordan Greenway and Mattias Samuelsson remain sidelined in this matchup.

When Luukkonen is in goal, the Sabres have been a pretty formidable side of late, and they are catching a depleted Canucks roster in a favourable spot here. Vancouver will be playing its third game in four days, and Hronek’s absence leaves a meaningful hole on a blue line which lacks depth on the right side.

The Sabres look to be the side holding more value in this spot, and I personally will be backing them, but not necessarily based on any belief that Buffalo is actually the better team in the big picture. Tocchet’s group has shown strong resiliency so far and has displayed a knack for grinding out close wins over the last two seasons. However, I’d certainly respect any Canucks fans not wanting to fade their team in a game priced so evenly.

While it’s a little dull to throw the same pick out there, I am surprised to see Quinn Hughes is still priced at -130 to record three shots on goal. He continues to be an absolute force in the offensive zone, and it seems like every touch he gets this season is either leading to a quality shot attempt or scoring chance assist.

Hughes is averaging 3.4 shots on goal this season and has gone over 2.5 in 13 of 21 games played. It seems likely that he will continue to go over 2.5 at comparable rates over the entirety of the season. Regardless of who fills into Hronek’s role, chances are we will see Tocchet lean heavily on Hughes’ pairing in this matchup.