St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks Prediction, 3/2/2023 NHL Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks

Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023

Location: SAP Center in San Jose, CA

TV: NBC Sports California

Odds/Point Spread: Blues (+100) Sharks (-118)

The San Jose Sharks (18-31-12) host the St. Louis Blues (26-29-5) at SAP Center on Thursday. The odds on this game have St. Louis at +100 while San Jose is priced at -118. The betting total comes in at 7.

The St. Louis Blues will need a bounce back game after taking a 5-3 defeat to the Kraken in their last outing. St. Louis recorded 4 penalty mins in this outing. Additionally, they had 4 power play tries but weren't able to convert one of them into a goal. The Blues had an average offensive outing in the defeat. For the outing, they were able to notch a goal on 3 out of the 25 shots they launched.

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When at even strength, the Blues have surrendered 184 goals while getting 145 when they are on offense. St. Louis Blues opponents have earned 149 power play opportunities (31st in the NHL) and have notched 35 goals in those chances. With respect to scoring goals, the St. Louis Blues have notched 180 goals (23rd in the NHL) this year and have given up 219. St. Louis has taken 1,729 shots and holds a shot percentage of 10.4%. For the current campaign, the have a total of 57 points and their points percentage is sitting at .475. The Blues have seen 1,946 shots attempted against them and have a save percentage of .887. St. Louis comes into tonight with 176 power play chances and they have tallied 35 goals out of those tries, giving them a rate of 19.89%.

Protecting the goal for this matchup will be Jordan Binnington. Binnington has been in net for 209 games throughout his professional hockey career. He has accumulated a mark of 111-67-25 and got the start in 205 games. The opposition has racked up 555 goals versus Binnington in his pro career and his average for goals against per game is 2.74. Binnington has had 5,989 shots taken against him and has recorded 5,434 saves. He has a save percentage of .907 during his 12,150 minutes in the crease. Over the course of his time in hockey, Binnington has tallied 106 quality starts and his rate for quality starts is .517.

When they were on the ice last, San Jose played the Canadiens in an outing where the Sharks took a loss by a mark of 3-1. They had 2 opportunities on the power play in this contest but weren't able to score a goal. The Sharks tallied 1 goal out of the 39 shots on goal they tried.

The Sharks are sitting with 149 goals at even strength and 30 goals (29th in hockey) while on the power play. San Jose has taken 1,828 shots (22nd in the NHL) and has a shooting percentage of 9.79%, while allowing the other team 1,907 shots. Over the course of the season, the San Jose Sharks have accumulated 179 goals, 48 points, in addition to a points percentage of .393. They have allowed 220 goals to be scored by way of 191 goals at even strength and 29 goals while they were shorthanded. They have a total of 163 power play opportunities and they have a power play rate of 18.40%. They have a penalty kill rate of 83.89% on the other teams 180 power play chances, and their save percentage currently comes in at 88.5%.

Across the ice you will find Kaapo Kahkonen defending the goal. His opposition is averaging 3.07 goals per contest and he has yielded 268 goals altogether. Kahkonen's quality start percentage comes out to 52.3% and he has accumulated 46 quality starts in his NHL career. He got the starting nod in 88 contests and has played for a total of 5,236 mins. Kahkonen has earned a career record of 41-36-10 and has participated in 92 games. He has racked up 2,467 stops out of 2,735 shots taken against him, giving him a save percentage of .902.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread or moneyline?

Josh's Pick: Take St. Louis (+100)

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