The San Jose Sharks and St Louis Blues start their series on Thursday night in St Louis. This is one series that I am looking forward to because I expect it to be a hard fought battle that goes to at least 6 games. The Blues were the picture of consistency, hard work and defense first since Ken Hitchkock took over, while the Sharks stumbled a bit throughout the season, but they have the talent to do some real damage in this post season.
San Jose Sharks St Louis Blues Betting Odds
San Jose Sharks +150 (5Dimes.com)
St Louis Blues -150 (SportsInteraction.com)
The Sharks line has lengthened since the odds were put out and I expect the Blues line at SportsInteraction to follow suit so if you plan on betting on the Blues you should do so quickly at Sports Interaction. Do not use a Sports Interaction refer a friend code in order to get the 100% matching bonus up to $125.
San Jose Sharks vs St Louis Blues Prediction
I’m a sucker who bet on the Sharks at +130 right when the series odds came out yesterday. Now I’m planning to put some more down with these better odds, but having seen the line for the Sharks lengthen to +140 and then to +150 in the last few hours I am going to wait and see where it ends up before the series begins.
The Blues dominated the season series between these teams winning all four match-ups by a combined score 11-3. Yes, the Sharks were shutout twice against the Blues this season. That being said Martin Havlat was only in the lineup for one game against the Sharks and his addition should give the Sharks that extra weapon needed to score against the NHL’s best defensive team. The Blues gave up just 165 goals against this year, which is basically exactly 2 goals per game. The Sharks will need to find a way to score at a better rate than 2 goals per game in order to win this series.
Joe Thornton leads the way up front for the Sharks and he quietly had another solid season with 77 points. Couture, Marleau, Pavelski, Havlat and Clowe will also need to find a way to produce points at this time of the year. I personally expect Havlat to step up and lead the team offensively. He has the talent and has performed very well in the playoffs in his career (28 points in his last 26 playoff games).
The one problem I see with the Sharks is their depth at the defenseman position. Dan Boyle and Brent Burns will play a lot of minutes and will be expected to use their speed to keep up with the Blues fast, hard working forward core. Last season the Sedin’s had a field day against the Sharks, but I don’t think the Blues forwards have that kind of high end talent and the Sharks d-men should be able to shut down the Blues young forwards.
That being said a lot of the Blues offense comes from their back end with Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk leading the way so the Sharks forwards will have to be aware of this and expect these players to jump into the rush.
It will be interesting to see what the Blues do with their goaltending tandem of Halak and Elliott. I expect Halak to start, but he will be on a very short leash with Elliott, the NHL leader in both GAA and save percentage, sitting on the bench. The Sharks will go with Niemi and I expect him to be at his best (he did win the Cup two years ago), but Thomas Greiss is a capable replacement.
Play: Sharks +150 (5Dimes.com)
San Jose Sharks Keys to Victory
- Score Goals – The Sharks only scored 3 goals in 4 games against the Blues this year so their top 6 forwards will have to find a way to put pucks in the net.
- Work Hard – The Blues are a hard working, consistent team that never takes a shift off. The Sharks will need to match their intensity in order to let their high end talent take over the series.
- Score Goals – This has to be said again. The Sharks won’t win if they can’t score.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: NHL Playoffs betting • San Jose Sharks betting • St. Louis Blues betting