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San Jose vs. Tampa Bay: NHL Match Prediction
On January 3, San Jose will settle the score on home ice with Tampa. The Sharks are currently in terrible shape and are losing to opponent after opponent, and their series already includes eight defeats. The Lightning look preferable against their opponent and it is not surprising that even on the road they are considered favorites. However, will the Sharks be able to pull themselves together and please the stands with a quality game? Find out from our forecast
Command Analysis
San Jose Sharks
USACurrent form
San Jose is in the penultimate position of the Western Conference and is separated from the last line by just a couple of points. The team had a good period in November, when several times, being an outsider, they dealt with a stronger opponent, but December was very unsuccessful for them. It should be noted that at the moment the "sharks" are on a series of eight defeats and each time they lose within the regular time. So, they lost to Vancouver on the road (3:4), and then at home they lost to Vegas (3:6), Calgary (1:3), and also did not cope with Philadelphia (0:4), not having scored a single goal.
The Sharks rely entirely on attacking hockey, as they themselves have a huge number of problems with defense and try to compensate for them with perfect implementation. However, as we can see, they are not always able to score even three goals. For example, in the confrontation with the Flyers, Ryan Warsofsky team made only 22 shots and created few moments at the opponent goal, which is why they were left without a single goal scored.
At the same time, it is impossible not to mention that San Jose is currently the club that concedes the most goals in the league. The most unsuccessful performance of the "sharks" is the starting game segment, in which they have a ratio of 23:50 in goals scored and conceded, so they often lose in it.
Disqualifications and injuries
Couture, Vanecek, Vlasik and Eklund will not be able to take part in the upcoming fight due to injury
Interesting trends for betting
- San Jose is getting 8.48 penalty minutes per game.
On average, the "sharks" are sent off 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.
Tampa Bay Lightning
USACurrent form
Tampa is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and has earned 42 points in total. The team has been showing fairly stable results for a month and has not suffered a losing streak. As a rule, it limits itself to one unsuccessful match, after which it gains several victories in a row. For example, after a defeat by Florida (2:4), the Lightning dealt with it on the road (4:0) and confidently beat the Rangers at home (6:2), but in the final meeting with Montreal they again lost with a score of 2:5.
Let us emphasize that this season John Cooper team has demonstrated a very powerful game in attack and is currently the most productive club in its conference. Plus, the "bolts" show exemplary play in 5x4 and 5x3 formats and currently occupy the third line in the championship in the game in the majority, having 26.9% of the extra man implementation.
Nikita Kucherov, who remains the team leading scorer and has already scored 54 points in the goal+pass system, continues to earn points. It is worth mentioning that the Lightning are most powerful in the opening game period, where they have a 44:24 ratio of goals scored and goals conceded. They usually try to immediately seize a comfortable advantage for themselves and then confidently bring the matter to a victorious end.
Disqualifications and injuries
Gunzel and Moser will not be able to take part in the match due to injury
Interesting trends for betting
- Tampa Bay has an 81.4% power play neutralization rate.
According to this indicator, the team ranks 11th in the league.
- On average, Tampa Bay scores 3.94 goals per game.
The club remains one of the most productive in the league today
Trends
Bet 1st period: total over 1.5 goals
In three out of four games involving visitors, the first period was productive
1.70Bet 3rd period: away team win
San Jose has trailed in the third period in the last three games.
1.90Tip and bets
We think that Tampa can claim success in this confrontation. The Lightning have played well in many of their last matches and after a defeat they usually pulled themselves together and dealt with any opponent. San Jose continues to lose match after match and has recently lost only in regulation time. Also, for the Sharks, the Bolts are a very inconvenient and unpleasant opponent, to whom they literally lost with a score of 1:8 last month. It is quite possible that Cooper team will also be stronger on the road.
Prediction - Tampa win for 1.65
Bet on individual total
Tampa remains one of the most productive clubs in the league today and usually scores four goals, even when playing away. San Jose, in turn, has serious problems with the game in defense and remains the most conceding team in the championship. In most of the previous face-to-face matches, the Bolts easily opened up the defense of their opponent more than three times, so it makes sense to bet on the individual total of the guests.
We bet on Tampa individual total over 3.5 goals with odds of 1.75
Total Bet
Matches between the clubs are often spectacular and have more than five goals scored. Tampa shows decent efficiency, while San Jose plays exclusively on the counter courses and makes gross mistakes in its own zone. Four of the last five matches between the teams also ended with a total over. It is quite possible that this time we will witness at least six goals.
We take the total over 5.5 pucks with a coefficient of 1.55
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