San Jose Sharks vs New Jersey Devils Predictions, NHL Expert Picks 2/20/2020

Game: San Jose Sharks vs New Jersey Devils

Date: Thursday, February 20, 2020

Location: Prudential Center in Newark, NJ

TV: MSG+/NSCA

Odds/Point Spread: Sharks (+118) Devils (-130)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Prudential Center is the venue where MacKenzie Blackwood and the New Jersey Devils (22-27-10, 8th in the Metropolitan Division) will take on the San Jose Sharks (26-29-4, 6th in the Pacific Division) on Thursday. The Sharks open this game at +118 while the Devils are priced at -130. The total is set at 5.5. The Sharks are covering 42.1% of the time, having gone 24-33 SU. The Devils are covering 32.7% of the time, going 18-37 straight up.

The San Jose Sharks head into this game holding a record of 26 wins and 29 defeats, putting them at 6th in the Pacific Division. During the season thus far, they have earned a total of 153 goals which is good for 13th in the Western Conference and 28th in the league. Their goal differential is -40, putting them at 28th in the league. The Sharks have a total of 56 pts, which is good for 26th in the league and 13th in the Western Conference. In discussing shots on goal, they have a total of 1,725 which is good for 15th in the conference and 29th in the league. As a group, San Jose has earned a total of 1,255 hits which has them averaging 21.3 per game. They have a total of 674 blocks for the year. The man in goal for San Jose is Aaron Dell from Airdrie, Alberta. He is 30 years old and has played a total of 1,597 minutes defending the goal this season. Dell is allowing an average of 2.89 goals against average which has him ranked 17th among West goalies and 36th in the NHL among goalies. For the year, he has allowed 77 goals. He holds a save percentage of .909 which has him ranked 18th among West goalies.

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The San Jose Sharks will be looking to get a win in their next outing after their 5 - 3 defeat against the Florida Panthers in their previous game. The Sharks played like an average offensive team in the defeat. For this game, they netted 3 out of the 32 shots they tried. Moreover, they had 4 power play attempts and were able to score 1 goal out of those opportunities. San Jose had 8 penalty mins for this game. The Corsi for the Sharks was 50 and the Corsi against was 46 giving them a Corsi percentage of 52.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 34 while the Fenwick against was 34, meaning they had a Fenwick percentage of 50.0%. They earned 30 face-off wins and lost 17 of the face-offs. Their offensive zone starts came in at 50.0% and they had a PDO at even strength of 85.7 for this matchup. Regarding their opponent, the Florida Panthers tallied 27 shots. They finished with 8 penalty minutes and they tallied 4 power play chances.

The Devils will be on the other side of the ice and for the season they have 22 victories and 27 losses. When looking at goal differential, they rank 15th in the East and 29th in the league with -43. They have earned a total of 158 goals for this year which ranks 14th in the conference. New Jersey has a team save percentage of .895 which has them 27th in the league, which tells us scoring chances could be plentiful if they are aggressive. They are shooting 8.6% putting them at 14th in the East. In goal for New Jersey is MacKenzie Blackwood who is having a marginal campaign by giving up 2.79 goals per contest and that has him ranked 18th among East goaltenders and 33rd among goaltenders in the NHL. In the 2,323 mins he's played this year, he has allowed 108 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .913, which ranks him 12th among East goaltenders and 25th among goaltenders in the NHL.

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The New Jersey Devils opposed the St. Louis Blues in an outing where the Devils were on the wrong end of the score by a final of 3 - 0. For this game, New Jersey wound up with a 35.8% Corsi rating. They got to that percentage by earning a Corsi of 29 and the other team having a Corsi of 52. They had a Fenwick percentage of 31.7% by notching a Fenwick of 19 and the Blues ending the game with a 41 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi percentage speaks to the kind of game that New Jersey had and you can safely assume that they'll look to improve in their next outing. Their PDO was 91.7 and they'll go home having earned an oZS percentage of 27.1%. The Devils notched 0 goals of the 17 shots on goal they tried. They had 3 power play chances in this game but weren't able to score a goal. In discussing their opponent, the Blues had 3 power play attempts but were not able to notch a goal. New Jersey conceded 39 shots on goal and the Blues ended up with a total of 8 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's hockey game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take San Jose (+118)

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