NHL Knowledge
San Jose-St Louis
Sharks shut St Louis out in their two series wins; road team won six of last nine St Louis-San Jose tilts- under is 3-1 in this series. San Jose won three of last four games here; they're 4-4 on road in playoffs so far this year. Blues lost three of last four home games, under is 3-1 in their last four games overall. San Jose is 2-15 on power play in series, the Blues are 2-12. St Louis is 5-3 on road so far in playoffs- they scored six goals on only 27 shots in Game 4, after getting blanked in Games 2-3.
Playoffs tally: 1st round-- Home: 23-24, Over: 16-17-14
2nd round-- Home: 16-9, Over: 11-5-9
Conference finals-- Home 4-5, Over 4-4-1
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San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues (A: +110, H: -130, O/U: 5)
Although the St. Louis Blues recorded their third six-goal outburst of the postseason, coach Ken Hitchcock was more interested in the play at the other end of the ice. With that in mind, goaltender Jake Allen will receive his second consecutive start in Game 5 on Monday as the Blues look to gain the advantage in the Western Conference final when they host the San Jose Sharks.
"He gave us exactly what we needed. He's a competitive son of a gun," Hitchcock told reporters of the 25-year-old Allen, who manned the crease in place of a struggling Brian Elliott and made 31 saves in St. Louis' 6-3 triumph on Saturday. While the Blues evened the series at two victories apiece, San Jose's Martin Jones will need to collect himself after seeing his impressive shutout streak halted just shy of 154 minutes. "We've responded well anytime we've needed to this year, all season long," the 26-year-old Jones said after yielding four goals on 19 shots to earn an early exit in Game 4. "We'll get ready for the next one. I don't really have to change anything. Prepare like I have been for the next game."
PROBABLE GOALIES:
Sharks - Martin Jones (W/L: 10-6, GAA: 2.07, SAVE %: .921)
Blues - Jake Allen (W/L: 1-0, GAA: 1.64, SAVE %: .930)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (56-33-9, 49-38 O/U): Captain Joe Pavelski extended his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists) with his franchise-best and NHL-leading 10th goal through Saturday. Fellow forward Joe Thornton set up the tally for his third assist in two contests and 11th of the playoffs, putting him two behind Logan Couture for the team lead. The 27-year-old Couture was held off the scoresheet in Game 4, but dominated the faceoff circle by winning nine of 12 draws.
ABOUT THE BLUES (59-30-11, 39-45 O/U): The availability for captain David Backes and rookie forward Robby Fabbri will be decided prior to Game 5, as Hitchcock did not shed any additional light for reporters on Sunday. Both forwards suffered undisclosed injuries and missed a significant portion of ice time in Saturday's victory, with Hitchcock telling reporters that "(Backes) had pompoms out. He was cheerleading. He was doing a good job." Fabbri notched an assist on the first of Troy Brouwer's two power-play goals on Saturday for his team-leading 14th point, while the latter's seven tallies in the 2016 playoffs match his sum total of his initial 78 career postseason games.
TRENDS:
* Sharks are 3-12 in their last 15 Conference Finals games.
* Blues are 1-5 in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
* Over is 4-0 in Sharks last 4 following a loss of 3 or more goals.
* Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
CONSENSUS: Early Consensus data is showing that the public is heavily favoring the Blues at home in Game 5 at a rate of 70 percent. The Over is scoring a good chunk of the totals wagers at 63 percent.
SAN JOSE (56-34-0-8, 120 pts.) at ST LOUIS (59-31-0-10, 128 pts.) - 5/23/2016, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
ST LOUIS is 59-41 ATS (+8.6 Units) in all games this season.
ST LOUIS is 36-24 ATS (-0.6 Units) second half of the season this season.
ST LOUIS is 34-23 ATS (+3.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ST LOUIS is 23-14 ATS (+7.8 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 22-9 ATS (+12.5 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5 or less this season.
SAN JOSE is 19-9 ATS (+8.5 Units) in road games second half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 32-15 ATS (+13.0 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent this season.
SAN JOSE is 25-12 ATS (+11.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
SAN JOSE is 20-6 ATS (+12.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
SAN JOSE is 8-5 (+1.8 Units) against the spread versus ST LOUIS over the last 3 seasons
SAN JOSE is 8-5-0 straight up against ST LOUIS over the last 3 seasons
7 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+2.0 Units)
SAN JOSE vs. ST. LOUIS
San Jose is 15-8 SU in its last 23 games
San Jose is 11-5 SU in its last 16 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis's last 5 games when playing San Jose
St. Louis is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against San Jose
San Jose at St Louis
San Jose: 14-6 SU as a road underdog of +100 to +200
St Louis: 26-36 SU at home after a game where 9 or + total goals were scored