Sharks at Ducks Betting Preview and Pick

The suddenly-struggling San Jose Sharks hope to get back on track tonight when they visit Anaheim to renew their California rivalry with the Ducks. San Jose lost 4-2 last night in Los Angeles and has now lost four straight, getting outscored 19-9 during that span. The recent skid has hurt the Sharks’ chances of earning the #1 overall seed in the Western Conference, with San Jose now trailing Calgary by five points with eight games left for each team. Anaheim can only wish it was fighting for playoff seeding at this point of the season, not quite mathematically eliminated from postseason play yet but nine points out of wild card positioning (and with five teams ahead of it). Still, the Ducks have brought max effort over their last ten games, winning six times and suffering a pair of one-goal defeats. You can be sure that Anaheim players will be motivated to play spoiler to the Sharks’ chances of finishing atop the West, so we should see a spirited and competitive game tonight.

A Look at the Odds (as listed at Bovada at 12:30 p.m. – March 22)

A Look at the Stats

Where’s the Value?

Let’s start with a look at the moneyline, where the Sharks are road chalk of -155 at Bovada. Not only is that the largest amount that San Jose has been favored by in Anaheim that I can remember seeing, it’s actually rare that the Sharks are favored in Anaheim at all. These teams are obviously going through very different seasons — San Jose among the league leaders while Anaheim is struggling to stay out of the Pacific Division basement — but given the history and rivalry between these teams, I’d be very reluctant to lay that type of price with the visiting Sharks here. At +135 or better, it’s either Anaheim or pass for me in this spot.

There’s not much value to be found in the puck line either, in my opinion. San Jose’s been struggling lately, so it’s too risky to ask the Sharks to win this game by any sort of comfortable margin, and I never want to lay close to -200 on a +1.5 in the NHL where a late empty-netter can sink your wager.

The total is indeed unusual, though. This is just the second time in the last 11 meetings that the Over/Under has been set as high as 6 (four of those games actually had a total of 5), and we don’t think of Anaheim as a team that plays a lot of high-scoring games. However, the Over is 2-0-1 in games between these teams this season, and with San Jose having allowed 19 goals in its last five games, I see the potential for a motivated Anaheim team to score a few tonight.