Liontips
Washington vs. San Jose: NHL Match Prediction
Washington returns to the US capital after a successful away game in Newark. Alexander Ovechkin team has found its game without its captain and is very close to taking sole leadership in the East. San Jose can hardly be called an easy opponent. Yes, the Sharks had a terrible start to the regular season and lost nine games in a row, but now they have joined the fight for a place in the playoffs and are only five points from the end zone. Do the Sharks have a chance? We tell you in the forecast for the match
Command Analysis
Washington Capitals
USACurrent form
Washington was recently in first place in the conference standings, but has now temporarily fallen to second place. The team from the US capital has 35 points in its bank and is only one point behind New Jersey, with four games in reserve. After Alexander Ovechkin injury, the hosts had a slight slump, which resulted in two losses and a lackluster offensive performance. Then the Capitals got back to business and won four games in a row. Spencer Carbery charges beat Florida (4:1) and Tampa Bay (5:4) on the road, and then with great difficulty beat the Islanders on their home court (5:4, OT). Before returning to DC, the Washington Capitals were better than New Jersey in a shootout, having recovered from a 1:2 score during this fight (6:5).
The Caps have improved their attack dramatically and have scored 19 goals in their last four starts. Even without Alexander Ovechkin, the hosts are strong up front and regularly outplay their opponents' defensemen. Dylan Strome has lost a lot after the team leader injury, but he is still among the top ten scorers in the league. The Canadian has scored 34 points (8+26) in the goal+pass system and is the club leading assist provider.
Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are hardly reliable goalies, especially considering the latter recent own goal. However, the veterans have 89.7% of their attacks on their own territory, and the field players do everything they can to keep the guards of the last line of defense from being bothered. In the last five games, the "lice" have conceded 17 times and often make mistakes in defense.
Disqualifications and injuries
Alexander Ovechkin, Sonny Milano, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie will not take part in the upcoming match.
Interesting trends for betting
- Washington is averaging just 28 shots per game.
The Capitals don't shoot a lot, but they convert 14.6 percent of their shots.
- The Capitals earn 8.58 minutes of penalty time per match.
The visitors are often sent off, but play well when short-handed and deal with many of their opponents' attempts
San Jose Sharks
USACurrent form
San Jose is in 14th place in the West, and there is no trace left of the opening shock of the visitors. Let us recall that the Sharks lost nine games at the beginning of the season and were in the last place in the conference. Now the Sharks have 23 points after 27 starts and they are not that far from the playoff zone. Calgary, which is in eighth place, earned five points more, but played two games less than the Californians. After a small slump, Ryan Warfovsky team got down to business and won three of the previous four games. At the end of November, Mario Ferraro team crushed Seattle on the ice of the SAP Center arena (8:5), and a day later confidently beat the Krakens in Washington state (4:2).
The California club has shown incredible performance in this period of the season and has scored 22 goals in the last four games. Mikael Granlund has been the club top scorer since the start of the season with 28 points (10+18) in the goal+pass system. William Eklund is gradually catching up, having scored only four goals, but made 18 assists.
The Sharks remain the conference most goal-scoring team. On average, the red light comes on behind the San Jose net 3.56 times per game, but the visitors have become a little more reliable lately. Mackenzie Blackwood is the most frequent starter. The Canadian goalie has stopped 89.42% of the shots on his goal and can boast only one shutout this season.
Disqualifications and injuries
Logan Couture, Barclay Goudreau and Marc-Edouard Vlasic will not be in the US capital this Wednesday.
Interesting trends for betting
- The Sharks are winning 48.9% of their faceoffs.
The visitors are not as successful at the point and often lose faceoffs to their opponents.
- The team receives an average of eight minutes of penalty time.
Ryan Warfovsky men are sent off four times per game on average.
Trends
Bet 2nd period: total over 1.5 goals
San Jose previous four games have featured more than one goal in the second period.
1.47Bet 1st period: San Jose will score
Washington has lost five games in a row in the opening period.
1.80Tip and bets
Washington is very good in attack again, but the hosts lack reliability in defense. The club goalies miss after every tenth shot on their goal and the Capitals are gaining points thanks to a powerful offensive game. San Jose is in good shape, perhaps the best since the beginning of the season. The visitors have scored 22 goals in the last four starts and have already joined the fight for the top eight in the conference. The Capitals have only once in six games without Alexander Ovechkin managed to win with a difference of more than two goals. We do not think that they will be able to defeat the Sharks. We are betting on the victory of the visitors with a plus handicap.
Prediction - San Jose win with Asian handicap (+2) for 1.60
Bet on individual total
Washington often struggles defensively and was giving up a lot of goals in late November. Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are not reliable in the last line of defense, although the outfield players are doing everything to keep the goalies as little work as possible. San Jose is playing a killer attack at this stage of the season and is unlikely to not score at least twice.
We bet on the individual total of "San Jose" more than two goals with the coefficient of 1.57
Total Bet
Washington recent games have been extremely productive, but the same can be said about the away team games. San Jose remains the most goal-scoring team in the West, but the Sharks' offense has gained crazy momentum. Games between these teams are often boring, but this trend should be broken now. Let play a bet on the total over goals.
We take the total over 5.5 pucks with the coefficient 1.60
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