San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: San Jose +120 / Vancouver -140
Tonight in a Western Conference match up north of the border between a couple teams that are not playing well the Vancouver Canucks host the San Jose Sharks. San Jose is still in 1st place in the West and Vancouver is in 3rd, but the Sharks have lost 3 straight and the Canucks lost their last game.
The Sharks only lead 2nd place Chicago by 2 points and the Canucks only lead 4th place Phoenix by 2 points.
This season the Canucks are a conference best 25-8-1 at home and the Sharks are also a conference best 21-10-2.
In their last games the Sharks were embarrassed losing to the Dallas Stars 8-2 on Tuesday and the Canucks lost to the New York Islanders 5-2 also on Tuesday.
San Jose has won 6 of their last 8 games in Vancouver and 8 of 9 overall in the series.
These teams both have high-scoring offenses, as the Canucks rank 2nd in the league in scoring (3.24 goals per game) and the Sharks rank 4th (3.19 goals per game). Both teams are pretty even when it comes to goals allowed per game, as each is around 2.50 per game.
Vancouver's offense will be a little short handed tonight, as they will be without RW Mikael Samuelsson, who has been on fire recently with 11 goals and 5 assists in his last 12 games. His spot in the first line will be taken by Alex Burrows, who is also playing great with 6 goals in his last 9 games.
Burrows, who is the Canucks' leading scorer (32), will team up with the Sedin twins on the 1st line and Henrik Sedin leads the team in assists (66) and points (94).
San Jose G Evgeni Nabokov (37 wins 2.37 GAA save percentage 92.4%) was also pulled after 2 periods after giving up 4 goals in the Sharks' last win. However, he has owned Vancouver, as he has won 8 straight against them.
Vancouver G Robert Luongo (36 wins 2.45 GAA save percentage 91.5%) was pulled after allowing 4 goals in 2 periods in the Canucks last game and he has his work cut out for him tonight against the dynamic Sharks' offense.
Luongo and the San Jose D really have to key on Patrick Marleau, who ranks 4th in the league in goals, and Joe Thornton, who ranks 5th in the league in points (81).
Betting Trends
San Jose is 7-3 in their last 10 games against teams with a winning record and has an Over record of 7-1 in their last 8 games against teams with a winning record.
Vancouver is 16-7 in their last 23 games, 6-1 in their last 7 games against teams with a winning percentage above 60%, and has an Over record of 10-1 in their last 11 games.
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.