NHL Pick: Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks
Overview
The Calgary Flames head down south to sunny California Wednesday when they take division rivals the San Jose Sharks. The Flames haven’t had much luck against the Sharks over the past few seasons only winning 5 of the last 15 meetings overall and just 1 of the last 8 meetings in San Jose.
Head to Head Trends
Flames are 1-7 in the last 8 meetings in San Jose.
Under is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
San Jose Sharks (-190)
The San Jose Sharks are 5th in the Pacific Division with 24 points 9 points behind the 1st place Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks got off to a quick start this season winning 4 of their first 5 games but it has been a struggle since winning just 5 of their last 17 games. The Sharks have a very solid offense averaging 31 shots and 2.7 goals per game. The Sharks defense isn’t all that bad either averaging 31 shots and 2.8 goals per game so they’re probably due for things to turn around a bit and start winning a few more of the close games. The Sharks are 2-5 at home this season where they average 2.6 goals per game on offense and 2.3 goals per game on defense so with stats like that they should probably be closer to 5-2 instead of 2-5.
San Jose Sharks Trends
Sharks are 1-4 in their last 5 overall.
Sharks are 23-6 in their last 29 games playing on 3 or more days rest.
Calgary Flames (+171)
The Calgary Flames are 3rd in the Pacific Division with 28 points 5 points back of the 1st place Anaheim Ducks. This has been a great start to the season for the Flames especially considering most hockey experts though they would struggle this season. I think the Flames will start to struggle soon because luck has been on their side so far this season and one stat that kind of shows that is their shooting% is 11.27 which is probably 1.5% to 2% higher then it will be at the end of the season. Just to show how high that is over the past 3 full seasons only 5 teams had a shooting% over 10% and they all had a much higher skill level then the Flames have.
Calgary Flames Trends
Flames are 4-0 in their last 4 games playing on 0 days rest.
Flames are 5-1 in their last 6 vs. a team with a losing record.
Conclusion
The San Jose Sharks might be due for a few extra wins while the Calgary Flames might be due for a few extra losses but until that actually starts to happen I’m probably going to keep riding the Flames and fading the Sharks plus +171 is just really high so it’s hard not to take the Flames here.
Free Pick: Calgary Flames +171