The San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks meet Thursday night in NHL action from the United Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Chicago Blackhawks vs San Jose Sharks Prediction.
San Jose Sharks Recap
The San Jose Sharks will be on the hunt for their first win after falling short against the Dallas Stars last time out by a final score of 3-2 in a shootout. After this game, San Jose will head to Winnipeg for a date with the Jets.
Sharks Looking For First Win
Tyler Toffoli has a team-high 3 points with a pair of goals and an assist while Macklin Celebrini has a goal and an assist for his 2 points. Barclay Goodrow, Fabian Zetterlund and Ty Dellandrea each have a goal while Mikael Granlund, Jake Walman, Jan Rutta, Nico Sturm and William Eklund all have an assist. Vitek Vanecek has gone 0-1 with a 1.03 GAA and a .966 save percentage while MacKenzie Blackwood is 0-0-2 with a 3.34 GAA and a .910 save percentage as well on the year.
Why the San Jose Sharks will win
- The Blackhawks have lost each of their last 10 Thursday games.
- The Sharks have won four of their last five games as underdogs after coming off a shootout.
- The Blackhawks have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last nine Thursday games as home favorites.
- The Sharks have covered the puck line in each of their last six road games after coming off overtime.
Chicago Blackhawks Recap
The Chicago Blackhawks come into this game looking to bounce back from a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames last time out. After this game, the Blackhawks will welcome the Buffalo Sabres to town.
Blackhawks Looking To Take Care Of Business In Home Opener
Teuvo Teravainen, Seth Jones and Connor Bedard all have a team-high 5 points out of the gate with Teravainen logging 3 goals and 2 assists while Jones and Bedard each have a team-high 4 assists. Nick Foligno has a pair of goals and Alex Vlasic has a pair of assists. Ryan Donato and Philipp Kurashev each have a goal as well on the year. In goal for Chicago, Petr Mrazek is 1-2 with a 2.71 GAA and a .911 save percentage while Arvid Soderblom is 0-0-1 with a 1.98 GAA and a .943 save percentage this season.
Why the Chicago Blackhawks will win
- The Sharks have lost 19 of their last 20 night games against Central Division opponents.
- The Blackhawks have won each of their last seven games as favorites against opponents on a losing streak.
- The Blackhawks have covered the puck line in four of their last five games as home favorites against opponents on a losing streak.
- The Sharks have failed to cover the puck line in four of their last five games after coming off overtime.
Chicago Blackhawks vs San Jose Sharks Prediction
I’m on the Sharks here. I know it’s the Blackhawks home opener, and they were a much better home team than road team last year. However, I don’t think that there’s this much separating these two teams that I want to pass on plus money with San Jose here. The Sharks are probably going to be one of the worst teams in the league again, but San Jose has been competitive against solid teams like the Blues and Stars out of the gate and Chicago’s lone win came against an Edmonton team that’s had a ton of problems out of the gate. Give me San Jose and the plus money.