Pacific Division rivals do battle on Wednesday night on NBCSN as the San Jose Sharks visit the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks have not played well of late as they have fallen out of first place in the division while the Kings have played a little better lately to move to just a few points back of San Jose. The Sharks had dominated this series in recent years but things have changed this season as the Kings have taken the last two meetings by scores of 3-2 and 2-1.
This war on the ice will go down Wednesday, January 18, 2017, at 10:30 p.m. ET at Staples Center. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Sharks are coming off a home game against Winnipeg on Monday and they have a home game on Thursday against Tampa so this will be the first half of a back-to-back. The Sharks will play four times this week but this game in Los Angeles is the only one that will be on the road. San Jose is 11-11 on the road this season with 9 of those games going under, 5 going over with 8 pushes.
The Kings are concluding a seven-game homestand on Wednesday night. The Kings were 14-7 in their first 21 home games with 9 games going over the total, 8 going under with 4 pushes. Los Angeles did have a day off on Tuesday as they were home against Tampa on Monday.
Special Teams
The San Jose power play has been a disaster of late. They are just 23rd in the league at 16.3% on the season but it is so bad lately that San Jose couldn’t even convert on a 5-on-3 advantage in the loss to St. Louis. “The power play could have been a turning point for is in a positive way for us, and wasn’t,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. The Sharks are just 14.1% on the power play since November 1st. San Jose is just 15th in penalty killing at 82.3%.
The Kings are 18th on the power play at 17.3%. Los Angeles is scoring 2.5 goals per game. Los Angeles is 10th in penalty killing at 83% and they are 6th in fewest goals allowed this season at 2.4 per contest. It is somewhat surprising that the Kings have not gone under the total more often playing at home.
Goalie Report
The Sharks have a clear number one in Martin Jones who is 21-16 with a 2.26 goals against average and they have a solid backup in Aaron Dell who is 4-2 with a 1.97 goals against average.
The Kings top goaltender Jonathan Quick is still out due to injury but his backup, Peter Budaj has been great this season as he is 20-14 with a 2.09 goals against average. Budaj has a save percentage of .917 which is similar to what Quick had.” We’ve been spoiled here.” Dustin Brown said, “We’ve been used to that. Now, with Quick out, Budaj has stepped in and made those types of saves as well.” Quick is expected to return to action sometime next month.
Free NHL Picks
The Sharks have won 7 of the last 10 meetings but as noted earlier, the Kings have won the last two. Only three of the last ten meetings have gone over the total with four unders and three pushes. The Sharks had won six straight in Los Angeles before losing 3-2 at Staples Center in late December.
Even though the Sharks lost in L.A. earlier this season they have had great success on the road in this series. I will take San Jose to get the road win and also play the game under the total.
NHL Odds: Sharks 3, Kings 1
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