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San Jose vs. Montreal: NHL match forecast
On February 5, a meeting between local "sharks" and guests from Canada will take place in California. San Jose still occupies a place in the basement of the conference table and is unlikely to fight for entry into the playoffs this season. The hosts traded the team's top scorer for draft picks and essentially resigned themselves to their position. Montreal really wants to play in the final part of the tournament and now occupies only the 13th place in the conference. Will the guests be able to take the important two points? Read our forecast for the meeting
Command Analysis
San Jose Sharks
USACurrent form
San Jose remains on the last line in the conference and is unlikely to be able to get out of it in the near future. The Sharks have earned only 36 points in 54 games and have one point less than Chicago, but the Hawks have played two fewer games. After a good start in January, Ryan Warfowski's team relaxed and lost ten out of 12 games. In the last home series of games, they lost to Nashville (5:6) and Florida (2:7), but then unexpectedly beat Pittsburgh (2:1). Now, the Sharks are returning home again after losing to Seattle on the road (2-6). The guests of that time were only enough for one period, because in the second leg of the meeting, Kraken scored four unanswered goals.
Yaroslav Askarov took to the ice at the start in recent matches, but this did not help San Jose to win. In his first season with the team, the young goalkeeper blocked 89.30% of shots and did not make a single shutout. The more experienced rookie of the hosts, Alexander Georgiev, looks even worse, conceding 3.99 goals per match and having a very weak season.
The home team's offense is going through hard times again, although the Sharks have been quite good in terms of implementation in recent matches. In the last five games, Mario Ferraro's squad scored only 16 accurate shots and scored twice more than twice in a duel. Mikael Granlund was the leader of the hosts' attack for a long time, but he was traded to Dallas. Now the attack of the sharks will be even weaker.
Disqualifications and injuries
Frederik Zetterlund, Jan Rutta, Alexander Wennberg, Nikolay Kovalenko, Vitek Vanechek, Klim Kostin, Nico Sturm, Ty Dellandrea and Logan Couture will not be able to participate in the upcoming bout due to injuries.
Interesting betting trends
- San Jose gets 7.81 minutes of penalty time per match
On average, the Sharks are eliminated at least four times per game.
- San Jose holds an average of 23 power moves.
The Sharks play pretty tough hockey and play a lot of power hockey.
Montreal Canadiens
CanadaCurrent form
Montreal is not showing strong results and now occupies the 13th place in the East. The Canadians have scored 53 points in 52 games and are six points clear of eighth-place Columbus. Martin Saint-Louis's team had a good time at the start of the new calendar year. They completely failed at the end of last month and lost at home to New Jersey (3:4, OT), Winnipeg (1:4) and Minnesota (0:4). Arriving in California, Nick Suzuki's squad could not cope with the pressure of Anaheim (2:3), although they led by two goals after the end of the first period. The Canadians did not come up with anything in the attack for the remaining 40 minutes and naturally lost the match.
The Habs played strongly offensively during January, but slowed down dramatically at the end of the month and scored only seven goals in the previous five games. In general, the guests lack sharpness ahead of the season, because they score only 2.94 goals per match. The Montreal captain is the top scorer of his team. Nick Suzuki scored 51 successful actions (15+36) and has no competitors among his partners yet.
Samuel Montembo has blocked 89.79% of shots and concedes almost three goals on average per game. The Canadian goalkeeper has no alternative, as Kayden Primeau misses almost every fifth shot in his possession. In the second half of January, the Canadiens were weak in defense and conceded 18 goals in their last five games.
Disqualifications and injuries
Kayden Gul, Emil Heineman and Corey Price will not help their partners in California. The participation of Jake Evans is questionable.
Interesting betting trends
- Montreal is averaging 3.38 goals per game.
The Habs have shown a good level of offensive play since the start of the season.
- Canadians receive an average of 9.63 penalty minutes per match.
The guests are eliminated five times on average per game.
Trends
Bet 1st period: total less than 1.5 goals
In the last six of the eight games involving the Sharks, at least two goals were not scored in the first period.
2.02Bet 3rd period: Montreal will score
The Habs scored in the third period against the Californians in three games.
1.35Tip and bets
San Jose gave the offensive leader to Dallas and became even weaker. The hosts have big defensive problems throughout the season, while the Sharks still miss a lot more than the rest of the teams. Montreal seriously lost after a strong stretch in early January and lost a lot of points at the end of last month. For the guests, the match in California will be a great chance to end the losing streak and slightly improve their position in the Eastern Conference table. We think that Nick Suzuki's team will beat the Sharks without a problem. We're betting on winning the second one with a zero handicap.
Prediction - Montreal's victory in 1.97
Betting on an individual total
The Sharks' defense has been like a sieve in recent games. In the previous five games, Ryan Warfowski's team conceded 27 times, which is more than five goals per game on average. Montreal has a lot going on offensively, but now the visitors have a great chance to improve their attacking performance. We believe in the team from Canada and expect at least four accurate hits from them.
We bet more than three goals on Montreal's individual total with a coefficient of 1.72
Bet on the total total
San Jose is playing so poorly defensively, while Montreal has some defensive problems at this stage of the season. We think that the meeting between these rivals in the state of California will not be closed. The hosts have essentially come to terms with their situation and now they should just try to show productive hockey. Let's play a bet on the total of more goals.
We take a total of more than 5.5 pucks with a coefficient of 1.70
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