The St. Louis Blues made the Stanley Cup Finals the first three years of their existence – losing all of them – but not since. They look to inch closer to a berth on Wednesday as they host the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. The Blues are favored on the NHL betting lines and the series is tied at 1-1.
How to Bet Sharks vs Blues 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds & Game 3 Info
- When: Wednesday, 8 PM ET
- Where: Enterprise Center
- TV: NBC Sports Network
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- Radio: ESPN 101.1
- 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds: St. Louis Blues -135 (Total 5.5 goals)
Why Bet on San Jose?
Perhaps we should have seen San Jose losing Game 2 on Monday night, 4-2 at home. Why? In odd-numbered games in these playoffs, the Sharks are 8-1 with a plus-14 goal differential. In even-numbered games, they’re 1-6 now with a minus-13 goal differential. The Sharks have lost all three Game 2s.
Logan Couture had both Sharks goals in Game 2, tying the game 2-2 relatively early in the second period. Couture got the Sharks on the board in the second period with a shorthanded breakaway goal that he created off of an Alex Pietrangelo turnover. The 30-year-old then added the game-tying goal just two minutes later. Couture finished the night with a plus-1 rating, four shots on goal, one hit and one blocked shot in 18:56 of ice time.
Couture reached 100 career playoff points, becoming the 11th active NHL player to do so. Since making his playoff debut in 2010, only three players have accumulated more points than Couture: Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (123) and Evgeni Malkin (106) and Chicago’s Patrick Kane (109).
Couture leads all players this postseason in both goals (13) and points (19). His 13 goals are one shy of captain Joe Pavelski for the highest single-postseason total in Sharks history (14 in 2016) and six back of the NHL record of 19 accomplished by Reggie Leach (1976 w/ Philadelphia) and Jari Kurri (1985 w/Edmonton). Finally, Couture is one point shy of becoming the first player in team history to collect at least 20 points in a single playoff on multiple occasions.
The Sharks power play is 3-for-26 since the start of the second round. The Sharks also went 0-for-2 on Monday.
“It was kind of just one-and-done [Monday],” Pavelski said. “We probably had to break out a few too many times and retrieve pucks. Some of our entries weren’t good enough. Those little things that allow you to sustain an attack in-zone — we weren’t good enough in those areas.”
Martin Jones allowed four goals on 25 shots. The Sharks netminder owns a 9-6 record with a 2.83 goals-against-average and a .906 save percentage this postseason.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.47
- Shots: 32.68
- PP/PK Percentage: 22.74
Defense
- Goals: 3.17
- Shots: 28.72
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.84
Why Bet on St. Louis?
Robert Bortuzzo scored the game-winning goal in Monday’s win. The blueliner Bortuzzo used an impressive backhander to beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones. That goal gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at the 16:34 mark of the second frame. He finished the night with a plus-2 rating, two shots on goal and five hits in 10:37 of ice time. The 30-year-old now has one point in eight games this postseason. Bortuzzo scored just his 15th career goal (regular season and playoffs combined) in his 366th game.
Jaden Schwartz also had a goal. The 26-year-old has had a strong postseason, as he now has nine goals and 13 points in 15 games for the Blues. Five of those goals have come in the last eight games. Schwartz’s nine goals already are only two shy of matching his regular-season goal total. He’s one goal shy of becoming just the fourth player in franchise history to score 10 goals in a single playoff year.
Ryan O’Reilly had an assist and has at least one point in each of his last seven road contests to establish a Blues playoff record for the longest such run in franchise history (3-5—8 in 7 GP). Jordan Binnington turned aside all 11 shots he faced in the third period to preserve the Game 2 victory and improve to 9-6 in his first-ever postseason. After establishing a rookie single-season franchise record for wins (24-5-1), he sits one shy of becoming the 10th rookie goaltender in NHL history to earn at least 10 victories in a single postseason.
Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (lower body) sat again due to injury. Gunnarsson skated Monday morning and he is getting very close to returning, according to Blues coach Craig Berube. He was injured in Game 7 of Round 2 and also missed Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
St. Louis, which matched its franchise record for road victories in a single postseason with No. 6, evened a best-of-seven series after losing the opener for the 14th time in franchise history. When a best-of-seven Conference Finals/Semifinals is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 owns an all-time series record of 54-17 (76.1%).
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.97
- Shots: 31.71
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.00
Defense
- Goals: 2.72
- Shots: 28.61
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.10
Sharks vs Blues 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Betting Trends
- Sharks are 6-1 in their last 7 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game
- Sharks are 4-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games
- Blues are 3-8 in their last 11 Wednesday games
- Blues are 10-4 SU in their last 14 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Jose’s last 7 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of St. Louis’ last 5 games played on a Wednesday
- Favorite is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings
- Under is 6-2-3 in the last 11 meetings
Expert Final Score Prediction for Sharks vs Blues
San Jose Sharks 3 – St. Louis Blues 2
