San Jose Sharks vs Nashville Predators Preview

Added on Mar 25, 2009 by sbworld in

NHL

The best NHL game for Thursday, March 26th pits a playoff frontrunner against a team on the fringe of missing out on the postseason. The San Jose Sharks (48-14-6-4) are on the road as they get set to take on the Nashville Predators (35-30-3-5) and these hockey teams have played some very close games this year against each other.

When they first met up in earlier November, the Predators escaped with a 4-3 overtime win that saw them cover the NHL money line at +190. A week later they met up again in Nashville but the Sharks got some much-needed revenge with a 4-1 win as a -133 favorite. Everyone expected the 3rd game to be a San Jose domination but the home team Sharks had to wait until the shootout to claim the 3-2 victory as favorites of -260.

Bookmaker.com lists the road-team Sharks as the betting favorite and it’s not much a surprise since they are considered the superior team who has won the last 2 head-to-head matchups.

The Sharks have been amazing at home with a 30-3-3-1 record but have played much less spectacular hockey on the road (18-11-3-3) so it will be interesting to see how both teams perform on Thursday. Nashville brings a 21-12-2-2 home mark into this contest and has played pretty good hockey on their home ice this season so this game could very well be another overtime or shootout style game on the ice.

Injuries are stacking up for the Sharks with 8 members of the team either ruled out or doubtful for this game while the Predators have remained much healthier despite still being without center Jason Arnott.

The Sharks have won 6 of their last 10 games compared to 5 of 10 for the Predators and this game definitely sets up well for the under with San Jose road games going under in 20 of the 34 contests while Nashville home games have gone under the total in 22 of 36 this season.

Neither team has been playing explosive games lately with averages of 2.8 (San Jose) and 2.4 (Nashville) goals scored per game over the last 5 while the goals allowed have been similarly low with San Jose giving up just 1.8 and Nashville not far behind with 2.0 over the course of the last 5 games. Another important thing to note is the fact that San Jose played in Chicago the night before while the Predators have had time to rest at home.

Hockey betting on this one should be much easier after reading through the information presented and best of luck to anyone who decides to place money on this key Thursday NHL contest.