Daily NHL Odds and Betting Trends – 05/08/19
Here’s a look at the NHL odds and betting trends for the full slate of games on today’s schedule. All NHL betting lines are as listed at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Avalanche at Sharks | OddsShark Matchup Report
Opening NHL Odds: Sharks -130 Favorites
The winner of this Game 7 will face the St. Louis Blues in the NHL’s Western Conference final, and both teams can learn from their 2-1 double-overtime victory on Tuesday that advanced them.
The Sharks know very well what can transpire in a Game 7 from the previous round when they rallied back from a 3-0 deficit in the final 10 minutes of the third period and beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in OT. They will obviously do whatever it takes in this spot but would like to avoid going to an extra session here. The Avalanche got the best of them in OT of Game 6 with a 4-3 win to force a deciding Game 7, and the pressure tends to be more on the home team in this situation.
San Jose goalie Martin Jones will be playing in his second consecutive Game 7 and was not particularly sharp in the first one versus Vegas. Jones allowed a goal in the first 10 minutes of each of the first three periods before his teammates came alive during a controversial major penalty called on the Golden Knights that led to four goals.
Regardless, Colorado is a much more stout defensive team than Vegas and will lean on that key factor in order to keep this a much lower-scoring affair. The UNDER was 2-0-1 in the previous three games of this series before the Avalanche won as a -130 home favorite, and these teams have alternated wins and losses throughout.
That would seem to give the Sharks an advantage, but they may also get a boost from the emotional return of captain Joe Pavelski, who may finally be back on the ice after he was the victim of the aforementioned major penalty and has not seen any action since then.
The good news for Colorado is that this team is relentless and won twice on the road against the top-seeded Calgary Flames in the first round and once already in San Jose. That should give underdog bettors some hope.
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