Overview
The Tampa Bay Lightning continue their west coast swing tonight in San Jose where they take on the Sharks. Being in opposite conferences these two teams don’t play each other all that often and thats probably a good thing for the Lightning as they have won just 3 of the last 12 meetings overall and 1 of the last 6 played in San Jose.
Head to Head Trends
Lightning are 3-9 in the last 12 meetings.
Lightning are 1-5 in the last 6 meetings in San Jose.
San Jose Sharks (+100)
The San Jose Sharks are 2nd in the Pacific Division with 28 points just 3 points behind the 1st place LA Kings. The Sharks are a pretty solid team but for some reason they haven’t played well at home yet this season losing 7 of 11 games. The Sharks have a +0.08 goal differential overall averaging 2.64 goals per game on offense and 2.56 goals per game on defense but at home they have a -0.55 goal differential averaging just 2.36 goals per game on offense and 2.91 goals per game on defense. I think this is just case of being statistical anomaly over a small sample size and by the end of the season or even a month or so from I’m pretty sure their home numbers will be better then their road numbers.
San Jose Sharks Trends
Sharks are 7-3 in their last 10 overall.
Sharks are 5-0 in their last 5 vs. Atlantic.
Tampa Bay Lightning (-110)
The Tampa Bay Lightning are 6th in the Atlantic Division with 27 points 14 points out of 1st place. I think the Lightning are a bit of an overrated team right now. They are under .500 at 12-14 and their offense isn’t all that great averaging just 2.31 goals per game. The only reason they are as good as they are is the goaltending of Ben Bishop who is a pretty good goalie but I don’t think he can continue the pace that he has been on for the first 26 games and when he does come back down to earth the Lightning are going to struggle to win games.
Tampa Bay Lightning Trends
Lightning are 4-11 in their last 15 vs. a team with a winning record.
Lightning are 2-7 in their last 9 games following a win.
I’m going with the San Jose Sharks over the Lightning in this one. Even though the Sharks haven’t played well at home so far this season I think that is going to start to turn it around and I also just think they are the better team overall so getting them at +100 offers some nice value.
Free Pick: San Jose Sharks +100
