Ottawa Senators vs. San Jose Sharks: NHL Odds, Prediction
The Ottawa Senators finish their three-game swing through California on Saturday night by facing one of the best defensive teams in the NHL in the San Jose Sharks.
Betting Analysis
Last year, the Sens and Sharks split, playing the two games just a week apart. The first meeting in San Jose was a 4-2 Ottawa victory. Chris Kelly, no longer with the team, scored the game-winner with 1:06 left in the third. Jean-Gabriel Pageau then added an empty-net goal. Mark Stone and Erik Karlsson also scored and Mike Condon was in net. It was Ottawa’s third straight win in San Jose, a franchise first. Martin Jones was the Sharks’ goaltender and made only 13 saves.
In Ottawa, the Sharks won 4-3 in a shootout to end a five-game overall losing streak in this series. Kevin Lebanc scored the lone goal in the shootout. Bobby Ryan, Kyle Turris and Dion Phaneuf scored for the Senators, and Condon stopped 26 shots. Jones stopped 28 for San Jose.
This matchup will feature the past two Norris Trophy winners in San Jose’s Brent Burns and Ottawa’s Karlsson. Burns led the NHL by far in goals by a defenseman with 29 last year.
Ottawa is 5-1 in the past six meetings overall and the total has gone over in each of the previous seven.
Ottawa Senators
Ottawa (9-11-7) lost its third straight and 10th in the past 11 on Thursday, 4-3 in overtime at the Los Angeles Kings in the second of a back-to-back. Craig Anderson was in net the night before in a 3-0 defeat down the road in Anaheim, and it was Condon against the Kings. He stopped 34 shots – alas, not one by stellar Kings defenceman Drew Doughty 32 seconds into OT on a 2-on-1 break.
The Sens only got to overtime thanks to a Ryan Dzingel goal (ninth of season) with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. Matt Duchene (sixth of season) and Pageau (third) also scored; Duchene added an assist for his first multi-point game with the team. Ottawa was 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off the Kings’ only turn with the man advantage.
San Jose Sharks
Expect a low-scoring game when facing the Sharks (15-10-2) as they have had just seven games go over the total this season, by far the fewest in the NHL. That’s because they have a very good No. 1 goalie in Jones and the best No. 2 in the league in Aaron Dell, who leads the league in GAA (1.93) and save percentage (.933). Jones was in there Thursday as the Sharks ended a two-game skid with a 5-4 overtime win over Carolina. Burns scored 22 seconds into overtime, just his second goal of the year.
Future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton had a power-play goal to move into 19th place on the career points list with 1,410. San Jose trailed 3-0 after one period. With Jones having started the past three games, it could be Dell’s turn Saturday.
