NHL Betting – San Jose on a Rocky Mountain High?
The San Jose Sharks dodged a bullet on Friday night and stopped the panic that was about to consume Sharks fans. The Colorado Avalanche are proving to be a formidable foe and will look to put San Jose behind the eight ball once again on home ice Sunday night.
San Jose Sharks @ Colorado Avalanche
9:30 PM ET, Sunday, April 18, 2010
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Series tied 1-1
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- The Colorado Avalanche ranked 6th on offense, and averaged 2.9 goals per game. The Avalanche are 18.0% on the power play and had 57 power play goals.
- The San Jose Sharks ranked 4th on offense, and averaged 3.1 goals per game. The Sharks are 21.1% on the power play and had 67 power play goals.
- The Avalanche averaged 3.0 goals per game at home, and gave up 2.5 goals against on defense.
- The Sharks averaged 2.9 goals per game on the road, and gave up 2.8 goals against on defense.
The San Jose Sharks came within 38 seconds of going down 2-0 in the series, but a goal with the net empty extended the game and gave San Jose a chance to even the series in overtime. Despite outshooting the Avalanche 52-22, the Sharks had to overcome five one goal deficits to win the game. The overtime winner marked the first time that the Sharks had the lead in the series.
The Sharks got it done on Friday night despite their big line of Thornton, Marleau and Heatley not scoring – the line is scoreless in the playoffs so far. Devin Setoguchi tallied two goals to led the Sharks offensively with Joe Thornton adding two assists and Heatley and Marleau each registering one assist. Evgeni Nabokov continues his shaky play giving up five goals on just 22 shots.
The Colorado made the most of their limited opportunities on Friday night and took five separate one goal leads against the heavily favoured Sharks. They were thoroughly outplayed on Friday night and still nearly won the game.
The star of Friday’s game was goaltender Craig Anderson who stopped 46 shots – a good sign for an Avalanche team that was worried about the struggles of Anderson down the stretch. The youngsters on the team demonstrated the speed, skill and sniping ability that took Colorado from the basement of the Western Conference into the playoffs. Chris Stewart had two goals, Brandon Yip had a goal and an assist, Matt Duchene had two assists and Paul Stastny added an assist. Although being outplayed, the Avs did some good things and continued to expose the Sharks’ inability to handle a strong forecheck and team speed.
The Colorado Avalanche return home on Sunday where they treated the Pepsi Center crowd to 24 wins during the regular season. San Jose was the second best team in the NHL on the road although they were a poor 3-8 in their last 11 road games. The home team is 7-1 in their last 8 meetings and I like that trend to continue. The Puckline currently has San Jose -1.5 goals. Both games have been one goal games – it might be worth a look too.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche +130
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