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Much drama has been provided by the San Jose Sharks this season. For one thing, they were marooned in the early part of the season, forced to move from Silicon Valley to the desert from what seemed like an interminable period.
And now they have the case of Evander Kane, who has filed for bankruptcy, with almost $27 million in debts. The Sharks may be attempting to void his contract; not because they are looking to punish him, but because they are looking to do him – and in turn, we assume, themselves – a favor, since that $7 million-a-year pact is the “main source of financial redress” for his creditors.
Amidst all this, they will take on the Anaheim Ducks in the first of a back-to-back set on Friday night at the Honda Center, with the puck dropping at 10:05 PM ET.
We think we’ve figured out a way for you to make some money with this play at HRWager.
San Jose Sharks vs. Anaheim Ducks Picks
Sharks vs. Ducks Betting Report
When: 10:05 PM ET
NHL Betting Odds
Money Line: Ducks -112 / Sharks -108
Puck Line: Sharks +1.5 Goals (-285) / Ducks -1.5 Goals (+243)
Total: Over 5.5 Goals -108 / Under 5.5 Goals -112
These are the bottom two teams in the NHL’s West division. And they will have to wade through better teams to get into playoff position. Anaheim (8-13-6) and San Jose (9-11-3) are separated by one point in the standings, and there are only a handful of teams that have fewer points.
San Jose in particular has gone through a bumpy season, because they had to spend the early part of it hunkered down in another location. Because of local restrictions in Santa Clara County, they had to pitch camp in Scottsdale, AZ and played their first twelve games away from home.
There has been a great deal of inconsistency coming from the offense. For example, there was a four-game period where they scored 19 goals, followed by two shutouts suffered in a three-game period. Overall, they are averaging 2.7 goals per game.
The Sharks will be happy to have a couple of their forwards back in action for this. One of them is Tomas Hertl, who is getting over COVID-19, which kept him out of action since February 24. He just returned to practice a couple of days ago.
His presence definitely means something, because he takes a regular shift on the ice when healthy, and is also used on the power play and penalty killing units. He was lost to the team for the last 22 games of last season, as he suffered ACL and MCL injuries.
And we can’t lie to you; Hertl, whose wife and child were also infected with the virus, isn’t likely to be 100% if he is able to take the ice on Friday. He was huffing and puffing after some conditioning work earlier in the week, and coach Bob Boughner has expressed that he’s going to be very careful with him.
Tino Meier is another player who might see action after missing the last couple of games with an upper-body injury. Meier has 15 points, which places him third on the team. Hertl has eleven points (six goals, five assists), which were gathered during the first 17 games.
We should mention to NHL bettors that even with all of the tension around him, Kane is in pretty good form, with ten points in his last eight games, and he is the Sharks’ second leading scorer.
The situation surrounding Anaheim goaltender Josh Gibson is not one of comfort. Gibson got off to a nice start, losing only once in regulation in his first six outings. But now he has one victory to show for his last ten starts; he has not allowed fewer than three goals in any of them, and in only one of those games has he posted a save percentage of .900 or better.
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It’s interesting that eight of Anaheim’s last nine games have been decided by a single goal.But they have won just two of those games. If you’re just 4-11 at home it doesn’t create much of a home ice advantage.
But when the Ducks come down the ice, they are facing one of the NHL’s worst goalies. Martin Jones has just not stopped the puck with any degree of consistency this season. In six of his 15 starts he has allowed four goals or more, and in a few of those he was yanked early because he was so bad. His save percentage of .879 is the worst of any NHL goalie who has played in ten games or more.
We’re not going to get snarky about it and say that it is probably easier to pick a loser than a winner in this matchup. What we WILL say is that your best investment may be to look for these goaltenders to continue making gaffes,as they have been, which translates into an “over” play as the most judicious move.
The Play: OVER 5.5 GOALS (-108)
