National Hockey League action within the Pacific Division and we will see San Jose Sharks pay a visit to Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia to rumble with the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks are off a 5-2 road win over the Oilers, while the Canucks are off a 4-3 shootout win over the Flames at home.
Sharks are Closing In On Pacific Lead
The San Jose Sharks come in playing very well at the moment as they come in having won their last five games in a row. The Sharks have now pulled to within one point of the Calgary Flames, who lead the division. It should be an exciting race between those teams down the stretch. San Jose will look to keep it going and possibly get over the hump when they face the Canucks tonight. The Sharks have outscored their last five opponents 23-14, after being outscored 18-8 over their previous three games. They enter this game off a 5-2 road win over the Oilers and leading their attack in the win was Kevin Labanc, who notched a hat trick and now had nine goals on the year. Also scoring in the win was Evander Kane, which was his 24th of the year and Tomas Hertl, which was his 25th.
From Edmonton we came to you live
To see if the #SJSharks streak would survive
Labanc scored a 'trick
And all three goals were sick
So now the winning streak is up to five pic.twitter.com/aDELO0MMjB— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 10, 2019
Grabbing the win against the Oilers was Aaron Dell, who stopped 21 of the 23 shots that he faced to improve to 7-9 with a 3.04 GAA on the year. Martin Jones will patrol the crease in this one and he has gone 26-14 with a 2.90 GAA and a .899 save percentage on the year, including 11-8 with a 3.41 GAA and a .887 save percentage on the road. In his career, he has gone 7-2 with a 1.66 GAA against the Canucks. The Sharks have gone 15-15 on the road and they have averaged 3.53 gpg and have allowed 3.67 gpg in those games. San Jose enters this game ranked 5th in the league in power play conversions at 24.6% and 8th in penalty kill at 82.1%.
Canucks Grab Big Win Over The Flames
Like every other team in the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks are very much alive for a playoff berth. Vancouver comes in off a nice 4-3 shootout win over the Calgary Flames here at home and they needed the win after losing their previous three games. Despite going 1-3 over their last four games, the Canucks are currently in the 9th spot in the Western Conference and just two points out of the 8th spot. That’s not bad for a team that is 25-31 on the year. Scoring in the win over the Flames was Bo Horvat, which was his 19th of the year, Josh Leivo, which was his 11th and Brock Boeser, which was his 19th, Elias Pettersson scored the deciding goal in the shootout period.
Coach Green discusses Zack MacEwen, Guillaume Brisebois, Michael DiPietro and the push for the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/OqUhtfA16b
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 10, 2019
Snatching up the win was Jacob Markstrom, who stopped 44 of the 47 shots that he faced to move to 21-21 with a 2.81 GAA and a .910 save percentage on the year, including 12-9 with a 2.68 GAA and a.914 save percentage here at home. In his career, he has gone 2-5 with a 3.74 GAA against the Sharks. Vancouver has gone 13-13 here at home for the year and they have averaged 3.08 gpg and have allowed 2.92 gpg in those games. The Canucks check in ranked 25th in power play conversions at 16.3% and 20th in penalty kill at 79.5%.
Notable Trends
Vancouver is:
- 25-51 in their last 76 when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in their previous game.
- 16-36 in their last 52 vs. the Pacific
San Jose is:
- 9-1 in their last 10 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game
- 16-5 in their last 21 games following a win
The Bottom Line What to bet on this game.
Full-Game Side Bet
I will look for the Sharks to keep rolling with a win in this one. The Canucks are off a nice 4-3 shootout win over the Flames, but they have not played well in this series over the last bunch of years. The Sharks won the first meeting by a score of 4-0 and they have now gone 25-7 the last 32 games in this series overall, while they have also won in 20 of their last 28 trips to Vancouver. The Sharks have won their last five games overall, while the Cunucks are 1-5 in their last 6 games following a win. Look for the Sharks to take this one.
Prediction: San Jose -150
Full-Game Total Pick
I will look for this game to go Over the total. The Sharks have played some high-scoring games on the road as their games away from home this year have averaged 7.20 gpg. Their offense has been hot as the Sharks have averaged 4.00 gpg over their last 10 games, but we also note that they have allowed 3.50 gpg over the same stretch and the Canucks have averaged 3.08 gpg at home. The Over is 6-1 in San Jose’s last seven road games and 14-6 in Vancouver’s last 20 when their opponent scores five goals or more in their previous game.
Prediction: Over 6.5