The San Jose Sharks can earn a spot in the Western Conference Finals on Monday night as they visit the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of their semifinal series. However, the Avs are slight favorites on the NHL Odds to force a Game 7.
Sharks vs Avalanche 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Lines & Game 6 Prediction
- When: Monday, 10 PM ET
- Where: Pepsi Center
- TV: NBC Sports Network
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- Radio: Altitude Sports
- 2019 NHL Playoffs Betting Lines: Colorado Avalanche -120 (Total 5.5)
Why Bet on San Jose?
The Sharks took a 3-2 series led with a 2-1 home win on Saturday. Martin Jones allowed just one goal on 22 shots. Tomas Hertl scored two goals in the win. It looked like the Sharks would head into the second intermission down a goal but Hertl made great use of his stick to redirect a Logan Couture clapper on a power play with 20 seconds left in the period. Hertl then followed that up by fighting off Nathan MacKinnon in front to bury a rebound with just over seven minutes left in regulation, holding up as the winner. The goals break Hertl’s three-game pointless skid, bringing the Czech forward to eight goals and 12 points in 13 postseason games.Hertl (8-4—12 in 12 GP) pulled within one of Couture (9-3—12 in 12 GP) for the most goals in these playoffs. Only two other postseasons in franchise history have featured multiple players with at least eight goals: Joe Pavelski (14) and Couture (10) each hit double digits in 2016, while Pavelski (9) and Patrick Marleau (8) teamed up for the feat in 2010.
Joonas Donskoi picked up an assist in his return to action from an undisclosed injury Saturday. Donskoi missed a couple of weeks after being rocked by Brayden McNabb with a hit in Game 6 in Round 1. He played alongside Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane. It was Donskoi’s first point in the post-season in four games after a 14-goal, 37 points regular season.
Saturday’s victory marked San Jose’s third comeback win of these playoffs, trailing only Dallas and Carolina (4 each) for the most among all 16 postseason clubs. The Sharks earned their second win of the 2019 postseason when scoring two or fewer goals (also Game 6 of R1). During the 2018-19 regular season, San Jose failed to win a contest in which it scored two or fewer goals, posting a 0-17-3 record in such contests.
The Sharks hold an all-time record of 5-2 (.714) when winning Game 5 after splitting the first four games of a series; that record includes a series win against Colorado in 2010 and a series defeat against them in 2002. When simply leading 3-2, they own an all-time series record of 9-3 (.750).
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.47
- Shots: 33.01
- PP/PK Percentage: 23.18
Defense
- Goals: 3.17
- Shots: 28.77
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.64
Why Bet on Colorado?
Philipp Grubauer allowed two goals on 39 shots in Saturday’s loss. The German netminder even got into a third-period skirmish with Joe Thornton. The Avs netminder made 32 saves in a 3-0 victory in Game 4 on Thursday and had a shutout streak of 106:50 going prior to San Jose tying the game at 1-1 on Saturday.Tyson Jost scored the lone goal. The Avalanche were fortunate to open the scoring when J.T. Compher’s shot was stopped by Martin Jones but the rebound deflected off of Jost before ending up into the back of the net. Jost has been very quiet during the postseason. It was the first goal of his career during the postseason and just his second point in 11 games during these playoffs.
Nathan MacKinnon’s eight-game point streak came to an end in Game 5. MacKinnon had one shot in the contest. He has racked up six goals and 13 points in 10 matches this postseason. His eight-game stretch was the longest of anyone in this year’s playoffs and the longest by an Avalanche player in the postseason since Peter Forsberg (eight) in 2002.
Nikita Zadorov had six hits to bring his total for the postseason to 50, ranked for the third most in the playoffs. Colorado killed 4-of-5 penalties and now has an 87.5% success rate on the penalty kill in Round 2, the third best in the second round. The Avs’ 22 blocked shots are their second most of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs (25, April 28 at San Jose).
Winger Matt Calvert was unable to play Saturday night because of an upper-body injury. Calvert missed Game 3 due to an upper-body injury, but he was back in the fold for Game 4 after being a game-time decision. He is listed as day-to-day.
The Avs are 2-10 in series all-time when trailing 3-2. The Avalanche rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to win in the 2002 Conference Semifinals against San Jose and 2001 Stanley Cup Final against New Jersey.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.14
- Shots: 32.79
- PP/PK Percentage: 21.34
Defense
- Goals: 2.95
- Shots: 32.00
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.97
Sharks vs Avalanche 2019 NHL Playoffs Betting Trends
- Home team is 38-16 in the last 54 meetings
- Favorite is 37-15 in the last 52 meetings
- Over is 5-2-1 in the last 8 meetings in Colorado
- Sharks are 7-2 SU in their last 9 games against Colorado
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Jose’s last 7 games on the road
- Avalanche are 6-3 SU in their last 9 games
- The total has gone OVER in 13 of Colorado’s last 18 games against San Jose
