PREMIUM
"The Coach's" *10* Puck-Line Punisher
(NHL) Arizona vs. San Jose,
Point Spread: -1.50 | 105.00 San Jose (Home)
Result: Win
Point Spread: -1.50 | 105.00 San Jose (Home)
Result: Win
The San Jose Sharks are sitting 10th in the West, five points back of the Kings for the final wild card in the conference as they're hosting bottom dwelling Arizona Coyotes for the first of two back-to-back meetings tonight. San Jose is not ready to give up on the season just yet and has won three of its last four games while Arizona is off a 4-1 loss to the league-worst Sabres. I think the visitors are in for another big loss here in the Shark Tank.
Here are my keys to the game:
1. Arizona's Scoring Woes - Only the Sabres has a worse goals per game average than this Arizona team who is barely scoring more than twice per game, averaging 2.03 on the season. It is likely to be up against a red hot Alex Stalock who out-duelled Semyon Varlamov his last time out leading the Sharks to a 5-1 win against the Avs. He's made three consecutive starts as Antti Niemi has been out with illness, allowing only five goals over those games.
2. Special Teams - The Sharks power play unit ranks among the best in the league having converted on 21.5% of its opportunities on the season. Arizona's penalty kill meanwhile has one of the worst marks in the NHL killing off just north of 77% of its penalties. It has been particularly poor of late, going a lowly 15-for-23 in short-handed situations over its last six games.
3. X-Factor - Joe Pavelski has nine goals over the last six meetings with the Yotes with five of them coming over the previous three match-ups this season.
Selection: This is a play on the San Jose Sharks -1.5 (10*)
Here are my keys to the game:
1. Arizona's Scoring Woes - Only the Sabres has a worse goals per game average than this Arizona team who is barely scoring more than twice per game, averaging 2.03 on the season. It is likely to be up against a red hot Alex Stalock who out-duelled Semyon Varlamov his last time out leading the Sharks to a 5-1 win against the Avs. He's made three consecutive starts as Antti Niemi has been out with illness, allowing only five goals over those games.
2. Special Teams - The Sharks power play unit ranks among the best in the league having converted on 21.5% of its opportunities on the season. Arizona's penalty kill meanwhile has one of the worst marks in the NHL killing off just north of 77% of its penalties. It has been particularly poor of late, going a lowly 15-for-23 in short-handed situations over its last six games.
3. X-Factor - Joe Pavelski has nine goals over the last six meetings with the Yotes with five of them coming over the previous three match-ups this season.
Selection: This is a play on the San Jose Sharks -1.5 (10*)