NHL Pick – Shaky Sharks visit the Desperate Wild

The suddenly vulnerable San Jose Sharks travel East on Tuesday night to take on a Minnesota Wild team that is lurking nine points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot. San Jose needs to gain back their swagger while the Wild need to make up ground NOW or their season will end in about four weeks time.

San Jose Sharks (43-19-10) @ Minnesota Wild (35-31-6)
8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

• The Minnesota Wild rank 15th on offense, and average 2.7 goals per game. The Wild are 18.3% on the power play and have 49 power play goals.
• The San Jose Sharks rank 4th on offense, and average 3.1 goals per game. The Sharks are 21.8% on the power play and have 59 power play goals.
• The Wild average 3.3 goals per game at home, and give up 2.8 goals against on defense.
• The Sharks average 2.9 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.8 goals against on defense.

San Jose Sharks: -120

The San Jose Sharks have been absolutely awful on their six game road trip so far. They have lost five straight games and have given up a mind-boggling 27 goals over that span. Bad losses include an 8-1 loss to the Stars and a 5-1 loss to the worst team in the NHL the Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks have lost their tight grip on first place in the Western Conference and have also lost their air of invincibility along the way.

Nobody is hot on the San Jose Sharks and their slump has coincided with an offensive power outage and a defensive breakdown of epic proportions. Every team goes through their slumps but usually does not look as bad as the Sharks have. They will break out at some point, but things are so bad right now that I think it is going to have to take some home cooking to get it done.

Minnesota Wild: +100

The Minnesota Wild are fighting fruitlessly for a playoff spot right now but are realistically playing for pride at this time. The Wild are playing loose and have nothing really to lose. They have a decent club with Guillaume Latendresse has 10 goals in his last 17 games and Chuck Kobasew has been red hot since returning from injury.

The Minnesota Wild are a good team with highish expectations – they have underachieved this season. It might be too late for them this year but they can definitely still build on their impressive 24-9-3 home record. The only other thing that the Wild have going for them in this game is the fact that they are meeting a team that is completely ripe for the picking. The home record and the Sharks recent ineptitude is enough for me to take a leap of faith.

Pick: Minnesota Wild +100