San Jose Sharks vs. Edmonton Oilers Prediction, NHL Odds
Superstars collide in northern Alberta this Thursday when Macklin Celebrini’s San Jose Sharks visit Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
Celebrini’s four-point night on Tuesday not only inserted him into fourth in the NHL in scoring, but lead his Sharks to a 5-2 win at Vancouver. Meanwhile McDavid’s ascended to the top of the NHL scorers and has had his fingerprints all over a couple of high-scoring wins for the Oilers the past few days.
It’s game six of a season-long eight-game homestand for Edmonton, who are 3-2 on the so far. The Oilers sit the in second in the Pacific Division, with San Jose right behind them at 57 points. The Sharks enter Thursday holding the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and are in game two of a five-game road trip before the Olympic break.
Puck drop at Rogers Place is set for 9 p.m. EST with the Oilers a -220 moneyline favourite on home ice and the over-under at 6.5 on the NHL odds.
Sharks vs. Oilers NHL Betting Odds
Thursday is the first of four regular season meetings between these Pacific Division clubs. Edmonton holds a six-game win streak over San Jose, and the Sharks have dropped seven straight contests in Edmonton. The Sharks road record overall is getting better though as they’re now 13-12 on the road after winning five of their last seven road games the past month.
The over has hit in 14 of Edmonton’s last 20 home games, and with the offensive talent on the ice in this tilt you’d think it would be a good reason to ride this trend. But the Sharks enter having five of their last six games overall go under the total, and four straight Sharks–Oilers meetings have finished under the total. In those four games, San Jose had a combined six goals.
At +180, San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini currently has the second-best odds to win to the NHL MVP (the Hart Memorial). Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is right behind at +525, while Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon remains the favourite at -225.
San Jose Sharks
The Sharks are starting to show they can win in different capacities, which will be needed when they hit the playoff push. January started out with San Jose come out on top in some high-scoring overtime battles, but over the past two weeks they’ve won four goals in which they allowed two or fewer goals. A big reason has been a hot streak from goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who is 5-1 this month with a .913 save percentage. Nedeljkovic should start on Thursday.
But when push comes to shove, the Sharks can still fill the net and that’s where Celebrini and the youngsters come into play. Celebrini has 16 points this month and back-to-back multi-point nights, while linemate Will Smith has seven points in five appearances in January. At 36 points, Smith is the closest on the team to Celebrini, who has a team-high 78 points and making for the biggest gap between two top scorers on an NHL roster this season.
Edmonton Oilers
Who will be the next Oilers defenceman to record a hat-trick? That’s a legitimate question these days after Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm made NHL history by becoming the first two defenceman on the same team to record hat-trick in consecutive games. Ekholm is questionable to play on Thursday with an undisclosed injury. For those seriously looking to take an Oilers defenceman to score another hat-trick on Thursday, Jake Walman is statistically the best candidate with four goals in 25 games this season.
Leon Draisaitl recorded four assists in Monday’s 7-4 win over Anaheim, the second-consecutive game the Oilers also reached at least six goals. The run-and-gun style is certainly dangerous, but it’s currently working for the Oilers and their top scorers. Another scorer to watch out for on Thursday is Zach Hyman, who has nine goals in January and goals in back-to-back games.
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