Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks NHL Picks & Predictions 1/5/2019

Saturday, January 5, 2019

SAP Center

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning head to SAP Center to take on the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, January 5, 2019. The opening line for this contest has the Lightning at -115 and the Sharks at +104.

Tampa Bay has a record of 32-7-2 this year. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They've tallied 174 goals and surrendered 119 goals for a point differential of +55. For the year they have an ATS mark of 31-9-0 and an over/under record of 23-15-0. San Jose has a record of 22-13-7 this season. They are 3rd in the Pacific Division. They have scored 145 goals and given up 133 for a goal differential of +12. Their record against the spread is 22-20-0 while their over/under mark is 25-16-0.

Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 31-9-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 23-15-0 against the over/under this season

Important San Jose Sharks Betting Trends

The San Jose Sharks are 22-20-0 straight up this year

The San Jose Sharks are 25-16-0 against the over/under this season

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

12/29/18 C J.T. Miller Upper Body is out indefinitely
12/18/18 RW Mathieu Joseph Lower Body IR (12/18)

Key San Jose Sharks Injuries

01/03/19 D Justin Braun Knee is questionable Saturday vs Tampa Bay
01/03/19 D Tim Heed Undisclosed is questionable Saturday vs Tampa Bay
01/02/19 D Radim Simek Concussion is out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

Nikita Kucherov has scored 69 total points this year for the Lightning. He has 20 goals this season with 116 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 17%. He has a total of 49 assists on the year and averages 19 minutes played per contest. Brayden Point averages 18.4 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 22% by tallying 24 goals on 109 attempts. He has 30 assists, giving him a total of 54 points on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 16 wins and 3 losses this season in goal for the Lightning. He has 706 shots against him and he's surrendered 54 goals. He's made 652 stops for a save percentage of 92%.

Player Spotlight

Brent Burns has 44 total points this season for the Sharks. He has 7 goals this year with 145 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 5%. He has a total of 37 assists on the year and averages 24 minutes played per contest. Logan Couture averages 19 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 15% by scoring 15 goals on 102 attempts. He has 26 assists, giving him a total of 41 points on the year. Martin Jones has 17 wins and 8 losses this season in net for the Sharks. He has 827 shots against him and he's given up 85 goals. He's made 742 saves for a save percentage of 90%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning have 66 total points this year, which is 1st in the NHL. They've scored 174 goals while giving up 119 scores, which has them ranked 1st and 17th respectively. They have had 141 power play chances and scored 43 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 30%. That is 1st in the league. The Lightning have given up 134 power play opportunities and surrendered 23 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 83%, ranking them 8th when short-handed. They average 34 shots per contest and as a team shoot 12.58% for the year. They allow 32 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 91%, which is 10th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Sharks are 7th in the league with a total of 51 points this season. They have 31 power play goals on 126 chances for a percentage of 25%. That is 7th in the NHL. They've given up 116 power play opportunities and surrendered 19 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 84%, ranking 5th overall. As a team, the Sharks are 4th with a total of 145 goals scored while they've given up 133 goals this season, ranking 7th in goals against. They average 35 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 9.90%. As a unit they give up 28 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 89%, putting them 29th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Tampa Bay is 10th in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 51.2%, as they've attempted 2,464 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 2,348 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage is 51.4% as they have 1,883 attempts while they have given up 1,780 shots on the defensive end. That ranks them 11th in the league. The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 50.7% of the time, which is 16th in the league, while their defensive zone percentage is at 49.3% for the season. That is 16th overall in the NHL. They have 1,250 face-off wins compared to 1,241 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.2%. That ranks them 13th in the league. On defense Tampa Bay has 990 hits and they have blocked 568 shots from the opposition, putting them 17th overall.

Advanced Statistics

The Sharks are 4th in the league in starting possessions in the offensive zone, doing so 54.8% of the time. Their defensive zone percentage is at 45.2% for the season, which is 28th in the NHL. They have 1,254 face-off wins compared to 1,265 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 49.8%. That is 17th in the league. On defense San Jose has 749 hits and they have blocked 561 shots from the opposition, which is 19th in the league. San Jose is 2nd in the NHL in Corsi percentage with 55.4% as they've attempted 2,755 shots on net at full strength while they've given up 2,218 shots on net in the same situations. Their Fenwick percentage of 55.5% ranks 2nd as they have 2,065 attempts while they have given up 1,657 shots on the defensive end.

Who will win tonight's Lightning/Sharks NHL game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay -115

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