San Jose Sharks at Colorado Avalanche Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: San Jose -110 / Colorado -110 O/U 5.5 goals
Time: 8 PM EST Sunday April 4, 2010
Tonight in a vital Western Conference game for the home team the Colorado Avalanche host the San Jose Sharks. The Avalanche have lost 4 in a row and are tied with Calgary for the 8th and last playoff spot in the West, but they have the tiebreaker advantage over the Flames. The Sharks are in the top spot in the West with a 3-point lead over 2nd place Chicago.
The Avalanche have lost 4 straight and are only 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and the Sharks are coming off a win and are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
There is a good chance this is a preview of a 1st round playoff series.
The Avalanche do not have an easy remaining schedule, as they face 3 division leaders in their last 5 games.
Colorado is 1-5-1 in their last 7 games against San Jose.
This season the Avalanche are 23-13-2 at home and the Sharks are 23-14-2 on the road.
The Avalanche lost their last game 2-1 to the Calgary Flames on Friday night and the Sharks won their last game beating the Minnesota Wild 3-2 also on Friday.
Colorado will be facing a Sharks' offense that ranks 3rd in the league in scoring (3.14 goals per game), which is not a good match up for them since starting G Craig Anderson (36 wins 2.62 GAA save percentage 91.8%) has really struggled lately. Anderson is 1-6-1 with a GAA of 3.96 in his last 8 games.
The Avalanche defense, which is giving up an average of 2.71 goals per game, has to key on Patrick Marleau, who ranks 4th in the league in goals (42), and Joe Thornton, who ranks 8th in the league in points (85).
Colorado's defense has not been playing well giving up 17 goals in their last 4 games even though they only gave up 2 in their last loss.
The Avalanche have a good offense, as they rank 6th in the league in scoring (2.88 goals per game) and they will be facing Sharks' G Evgeni Nabokov (41 wins 2.43 GAA save percentage 92.1%), whop has played well against them. He is 10-3-1 with a GAA of 2.53 in his last 14 starts against Colorado.
Betting Trends
San Jose is 5-1 in their last 6 games, 2-7 in their last 9 road games, and has an Over record of 9-2 in their last 11 games against teams with a winning record.
Colorado is 6-1 in their last 7 home games against teams with a winning road record and has an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 games.
In the last 7 games between these 2 teams in Colorado the total has gone Over 5 times.
Our Selection : Take the San Jose -110 at 5Dimes.
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.