Sharks at Jets Odds
| Sharks Odds | +165 |
| Jets Odds | -190 |
| Over/Under | 5.5 (-105/-115) |
| Time | 8 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
| Odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute NHL odds here. | |
For the third time already this season, the Winnipeg Jets take on the San Jose Sharks. The Jets will look to get revenge against their counterparts since the Sharks have had their number in both games.
Winnipeg’s coming off a heartbreaking shootout loss against St Louis at home. The Jets had a lead in the third period only to let the Blues tie it up, and eventually win in a shootout. The Jets have had a good season so far. In their past 10 games they hold a 6-1-3 record despite losing their last two.
San Jose has exceeded all expectations this season. Coming into this bout, the Sharks hold a 7-4-1 record. While they started hot, they cooled down a little bit recently. After defeating the red-hot Flames on Tuesday, it’ll be interesting to see if they get back into their groove.
Jets Hope To Maintain Consistency
The Jets have recently started to look like the team many thought they would be following a disappointing start to the season. With usual leaders Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler being kept off the scoreboard following battles with COVID, the likes of Kyle Connor (17 points), Andrew Copp (12 points), Pierre-Luc Dubois, (12 points) and Neal Pionk (10 points) are all picking up the slack. Just imagine what this team will look like once Scheifele and Wheeler get going.
Win or lose, the Jets always seem to pick up points. They’ve collected points in 9 out of their last 10, however, their 5-on-5 play in the offensive zone has been fairly average.
A lot of a team’s success can be measured by how many shots they take, and Winnipeg has only been middle-of-the-road, averaging 30.58 shots per game. Not only that, but they rank 18th in expected goals with a 49.8 xGF%, but they do rank 12th in high danger chances with 108. Production has been spread out throughout the team, but the system needs to be better.
Former Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck has not had a start to the season he’ll want to remember (minus his son being born last week). The man they call “Bucky” has posted a .904 SV% and a 1.9 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), which is very unlike the Michigan native.
Elite goalies usually steal games, even while defenses struggle, but Hellebuyck hasn’t been the guy he usually is. Backup Eric Comrie has posted better stats (.926 SV% and a 3.1 GSAx) and he's been a big reason as to why the Jets have been in games.
Sharks Continue To Surprise
Many expected the Sharks to contend for a lottery spot this year. While the season is still young, this group of Sharks have no intention of ending their season in early April.
Being rid of Evander Kane seems to have been a form of addition by subtraction as all hands are on deck. Captain Logan Couture wants a spot on Team Canada this year (11 points), Brent Burns has always been reliable on both ends (11 points), Timo Meier continues to be a bright spot (11 points) and Tomas Hertl has been putting the puck in the net (9 points).
Even with a quality record, the Sharks can’t seem to generate quality scoring chances, which is surprising given some of their weapons. As a bottom-five team in shots per game (29.42), they’re in the bottom 10 in expected goals with a 47.53 xGF%, and have generated 97 high danger chances, which is below average. For a team that is strong defensively (plus Erik Karlsson comes back from COVID), the Sharks can stay in games if their offense isn’t clicking.
After buying out Martin Jones for the remainder of his contract, general manager Doug Wilson took a calculated risk by signing Adin Hill. Hill was a serviceable backup for the Coyotes, and many felt he could thrive in more starts.
While he started off well, he’s come back to Earth with a .904 SV% and a 0.3 GSAx (although he’s coming off a critical win against Calgary). Veteran James Reimer has been the bright spot in net with an eye-popping .946 SV% and a 4.3 GSAx. It seems if Reimer continues his hot streak, he may take on the No. 1 spot in net.
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Jets vs. Sharks Pick
Hill started in the win on Tuesday, so there’s a chance Reimer gets in between the pipes for this bout.
Despite the struggles from Hellebuyck, I don’t expect that to continue, and even when he’s off, he’s still better than most in net.
I think this could be an exciting, close game. Both matchups between these two teams were one-goal games, so be prepared to be on the edge of your seat. In the end, I think Winnipeg comes out on top. They have a better all-around team while I see San Jose coming back down to mediocrity soon.
Pick: Winnipeg Jets at -185
