LiontipsUtah vs. San Jose: NHL Match Prediction
On January 11, Utah will try to take important psychological points in Salt Lake. Andre Tourigny's men have played only one game since December 21 and have seriously worsened their position in the Western Conference table. San Jose continues to fight for the penultimate place in the conference and has only occasionally played good games this season. The team from California is worse than others in defense and still misses a lot. Will the visitors put up a fight? Read our prediction for the match
Match announcement
Utah Hockey Club
USACurrent form
Utah was just recently on the edge of the playoff zone, but now the team from Salt Lake has dropped to 11th place in the conference. The debutants do not lose hope of getting into the final part of the tournament in their first season, but now the hosts have only 41 points after 40 matches. Andre Tourigny's charges looked great during October, and began to lose steam right before Christmas. At the moment, the newcomers have won only one match out of eight, slightly improving their mood at the end of the last away series. Clayton Keller's squad won in Calgary (5:3) and clung to one point in Dallas (2:3, OT), but after returning home they lost heavily to Florida (1:4).
Connor Ingram is close to returning to action, but Karel Vejmelka is still the last line of defense. The Czech goalie has played 25 times this season and has a .9150 save percentage. Jackson Stauber is his backup. The young goalie has had four starts and has done well overall.
The captain of Utah is its leading scorer at the moment. Clayton Keller has scored 38 points (14+24) in the goal+pass system and is only three points ahead of Logan Cooley (11+24). The author of the first goal in the history of the franchise, Dylan Gunter, is in third place on the list of the club's most productive players (16+18).
Disqualifications and injuries
Robert Bortuzzo, Sean Durzi, Connor Ingram and John Marino will not be able to take part in the upcoming fight.
Interesting trends for betting
- Utah is averaging 2.9 goals per game this season.
Rookies don't always play badly on offense, but their numbers only get worse over time.
- The Salt Lake club averages 27 shots per game
The debutants don't have many shots on goal, but they managed to convert 10.6% of their chances.
San Jose Sharks
USACurrent form
San Jose tried to climb out of the conference basement after a weak start, but now the Sharks are again in the penultimate line in the West, risking to let Chicago pass them by. The team led by Ryan Warfovsky has only 32 points after 43 games and is already 14 points behind Vancouver, which is in eighth place. Throughout December, the Sharks demonstrated a weak level of hockey, but gradually began to recover in 2025. In the home series, they managed to beat Tampa (2:1) and New Jersey (3:2), but in the last game, the Sharks could not cope with the pressure of Vegas (2:4), losing to the Gold for the third time this season.
Yaroslav Askarov became a real hero of the last series of games in California. The young goalie started in the matches against the Devils and Lightning and helped his partners earn important points. The Russian can displace Alexander Georgiev from the main team, because he currently has good statistics. In seven games, he reflected 92.31% of attacks on his territory, but so far he cannot boast of crackers.
The visitors' offense is once again going through hard times. In the last five games, Mario Ferraro's team has only made eight accurate shots and only once has it scored more than two times in a game. Mikael Granlund remains a key player in the Sharks' attack. The forward has made 35 effective actions (11+24) during the current regular season.
Disqualifications and injuries
Logan Couture, Nico Sturm, Vitek Vanecek and Jake Wallman will be out of the upcoming bout due to injuries.
Interesting trends for betting
- San Jose receives 8.38 penalty minutes per game.
On average, sharks are eliminated at least four times per game.
- San Jose averages 24 hits
The Sharks play a pretty tough brand of hockey and commit a lot of physical attacks.
Trends
Bet 2nd period: total over 1.5 goals
In Utah's last three games, the second period has been productive.
1.55Bet 3rd period: San Jose will score
The Sharks have scored in the third period in two games.
1.40Tip and bets
Utah continues to lose and on paper does not look much stronger than its opponent. The debutants have won only one match since the end of December and do not show a strong level of play. The newcomers score very little and continue to play without their main goalie. San Jose gets every point very hard. The Sharks are trying to get back into the fight for the playoffs, but it is unlikely that this will be possible in the near future. Ryan Warfovsky's charges played good matches in California and look slightly preferable to the hosts. We think that the Sharks will be able to give the club from Salt Lake a fight and will not be routed on the ice of the Delta Center. We suggest playing a bet on a positive handicap for the second.
Our prediction is San Jose win with Asian handicap (+1.5) for 1.75
Bet on individual total
San Jose hasn't scored much in recent games, but their attack is one of the few strong points of the visitors. Utah has played well in defense on its home court, but Andre Tourigny's men have been showing weak results in general lately. We believe that the visiting team's leaders will finally wake up and throw at least two or three pucks into the goal of the not-so-reliable Karel Vejmelka.
Betting Tip - San Jose individual total more than two goals for 1.52
Bet on total
Both teams have not been very productive in recent meetings, but now they will have a great opportunity to pull themselves together in a face-to-face match. San Jose remains the team that concedes the most goals in the West. Utah has conceded a lot lately, but it will have the opportunity to take advantage of the guests' mistakes. Let's bet on the total over goals.
Betting Tip - total over 5.5 goals for 1.68
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