The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks play the second half of a home-and-home on Tuesday night on NBCSN. The teams played an intense contest on Saturday night that the Kings won by a score of 3-2 in Los Angeles. It was just the second loss in the last ten games for the Sharks who lead the Pacific Division while the win broke a three-game losing streak for the Kings. The win also broke a four-game losing streak for Los Angeles in this series against San Jose.
At 10 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Tuesday, January 2, 2017 at SAP Center.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Sharks should be listed as about -145 favorites in this contest with the total at 5. The Kings were a very slight favorite in Saturday’s game with the total listed at 5. The Kings have not been that good on the road this season going 7-14 with 12 going under, just 5 going over with 4 pushes. The Sharks have been a good home team winning 13 of their 17 at the Shark Tank with 10 of those games going under, just 2 going over with 5 pushes.
Special Teams
The Kings are scoring just 2.5 goals per game and the power play has been weak as it is just 23rd in the league at 15.6%. The Kings have been good in penalty killing at 83.2% which is 10th in the league and that is one reason why they are 6th in the league in fewest goals allowed at 2.4 per contest.
The Sharks are just 17th in the league on the power play at 17.2%. The Sharks are scoring just 2.5 goals per game which is 21st in the league. The penalty killing for San Jose has been solid as they are 9th in the league at 83.8%. The Sharks are giving up just 2.2 goals per game which is 4th in the league.
Last Meeting
We don’t look at the last meeting that often but when it is the second half of a home and home it is worth considering. The Kings got goals from Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty and Tanner Pearson as they beat the Sharks 3-2 on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
”We just needed a big two points,” Pearson said. ”Division game, four points were on the line. It was a big game overall and not just because it was San Jose. We need to win right now.” The Kings got two assists from Alex Martinez and Peter Budaj made 18 saves.
The Sharks got goals from Brent Burns and Kevin Labanc while Martin Jones stopped 24 shots. ”We know where they are in the standings so we knew they were going to be hungry and come out hard,” Jones said. ”That was the difference in the game. They were hungrier and they won a few more battles.”
San Jose also started slowly on Saturday and the poor start cost them. “As poorly as we played at times,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, “It was a game that we found ourselves at the end in the third period feeling like we could win.”
Saturday’s game was physical as the teams combined for 51 hits so there is likely to be some carry over to Tuesday’s game.
Free NHL Picks
The Sharks have won three of the last four at home in this series with two of the last three going under. Both of these teams are going under the total on a regular basis this season especially in this situation as the Kings have gone under 12 times on the road while the Sharks have gone under 10 times at home so I will take this game on Tuesday night under the total.
NHL Odds: Sharks 3, Kings 1
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