Always a spirited game when Pacific Division rivals San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks face off, but the Ducks are just playing out the string on an awful season while the Sharks are battling for the top seed in the Western Conference. They are short NHL betting favorites on Friday in Anaheim.
How to Bet Sharks at Ducks NHL Hockey Odds & TV Info
The puppet master pulling strings and making saves. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/rqedMHuWTr
— x – San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) 22 de marzo de 2019
- When: Friday, 10 PM ET
- Where: Honda Center
- TV: NHL Center Ice
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- NHL Betting Lines: TBA
Season Series
Last meeting, with Sharks up 2-1. They last played Dec. 27 in San Jose and the Sharks prevailed 4-2. Former Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns scored midway through the third period of his 1,000th career game to lead San Jose. Burns scored at 10:21 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Burns’ goal was controversial, with the Ducks asserting that the play should have been called dead when the puck went into the netting moments earlier.
Marcus Sorensen, Melker Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose. Barclay Goodrow had two assists and Martin Jones had 26 saves. Jakob Silfverberg and Kiefer Sherwood scored for Anaheim. Ducks goalie Chad Johnson came in for starter John Gibson at the start of the second period, who left the game with an upper-body injury. Johnson gave up two goals and turned back 22 shots. Gibson gave up one goal and had 16 saves.
Why Bet on San Jose?
San Jose clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday night with the Minnesota Wild’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche. At this point, the Sharks are purely playing for playoff seeding.
The Sharks will be playing the second of a back-to-back (why no early line) as they entered Thursday’s game at Los Angeles on a three-game skid, hurting San Jose’s chances of overtaking Calgary for the Pacific Division title and the top seed in the West.
Two key players were out Thursday in defenseman Erik Karlsson and center Joe Pavelski. Karlsson hasn’t played since Feb. 26 after he aggravated a groin problem and isn’t even on the trip. Pavelski is dealing with a lower-body injury. As much as the Sharks want Pavelski to be available for every game down the stretch to help catch the Flames, they also want to make sure he’ll be as healthy as possible once the NHL playoffs begin in the second week of April. Pavelski has a team-leading 37 goals and is third with 63 points.
The Sharks currently sport two 30-goal scorers in Pavelski (37) and Tomas Hertl (31), five skaters with at least 20 or more goals and 12 players with at least 10 goals this season. The Sharks are first in the NHL with 10-goal scorers and second in 20-goal scorers.
The Sharks offense ranks third in goals-for per game (3.58) along with the sixth-ranked PP-unit, clicking on 24.1% of their opportunities. Since the start of the 2019 calendar year, the Sharks sport a 22-9-1 record (45 pts), which is T-fifth in the NHL and second in the West. San Jose has scored 118 goals, T-second in the league. San Jose’s offense is on pace to shatter the single-season franchise record of 265 total goals, set in the 2005-06 campaign. Only five teams since the start of the 2005 season have scored more than 290 in a single season.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.55
- Shots: 33.38
- PP/PK Percentage: 23.94
Defense
- Goals: 3.15
- Shots: 28.59
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.72
Why Bet on Anaheim?
The disappointing Ducks had a two-game winning streak snapped in a 3-0 home loss to the Jets on Wednesday. Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves and Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist for the Jets. Anaheim had won six of nine in a late-season surge before getting shut down by Hellebuyck in his 13th career shutout, but his first in 55 appearances this year. It also gave the Jets a three-game sweep of the season series, with the first two coming in Winnipeg, including a 9-3 rout on February 2.
The Ducks were shut out for the seventh time in 2019. They would need a miracle to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years and just the third time since the 2004-05 lockout.
John Gibson’s four-game winning streak ended Wednesday. Gibson played well against the Jets, but a lack of goal support resulted in a loss and a broken win streak for the 25-year old goaltender. Gibson made 20 saves and was beaten three times throughout the contest. His record this season falls to 22-22-8, and he owns a 2.87 GAA and .916 save percentage.
The Ducks outshot the Jets 29-23. The Ducks of Wednesday looked like a different team than the punchless club that was knocked down and out in an embarrassing showing that was part of a stretch of games that resulted in losses in 19 of 21 games and prompted the firing of Randy Carlyle as coach Feb. 10.
Jakob Silfverberg leads the team with 22 goals and there is a realistic chance the Ducks don’t have another 20-goal scorer. Adam Henrique could possibly eclipse the mark with 17 goals and Ryan Getzlaf would need 7 goals to reach the mark. Rickard Rakell has posted 43, 51, and 69 points over the last three seasons and this year he will be lucky to eclipse 40 W.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.31
- Shots: 27.76
- PP/PK Percentage: 16.00
Defense
- Goals: 3.07
- Shots: 33.29
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.97
Sharks vs Ducks NHL Betting Trends
- Road team is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings
- Under is 6-2-4 in the last 12 meetings in Anaheim
- Favorite is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings
- San Jose is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 games on the road
- San Jose is 9-3 SU in its last 12 games on the road
- Anaheim is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing San Jose
- Anaheim is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games when playing San Jose
Expert Final Score Prediction for Sharks vs Ducks
San Jose Sharks 3 – Anaheim Ducks 2
