NHL Knowledge
San Jose-St Louis
Road team won seven of last ten St Louis-San Jose games- under is 3-2 in this series, but last couple of games went over. San Jose won three of last four games here, St Louis won three of last four road tilts. San Jose is 4-18 on power play in series, Blues are 3-15. St Louis is 6-3 on road so far in playoffs- they gave up three goals on only nine shots in third period of Game 5, after Sharks tied game with 1:27 left in second period. St Louis lost four of last five games when they scored less than four goals. San Jose held five of last six opponents under four goals.
Playoffs tally: 1st round-- Home: 23-24, Over: 16-17-14
2nd round-- Home: 16-9, Over: 11-5-9
Conference finals-- Home 4-7, Over 6-4-1
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NHL: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
St Louis at San Jose
The San Jose Sharks have a 25-year history of playoff frustration in the books, but they can exorcise some of those ghosts by beating the St. Louis Blues this Wednesday. The Sharks took a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference final Monday night, coming from behind twice and scoring two empty-net goals to down the Blues 6-3 as very slim –105 road dogs.
St. Louis decided to go with Jake Allen (.920 save percentage during the regular season) between the pipes for Game 5, after Allen took over for Brian Elliott (.930 SV%) in Saturday's Game 4 and helped secure a 6-3 victory for the Blues at +135 on the closing line. However, Allen stopped just 21 of 25 shots on Monday. Elliott is considered probable at press time to return for Game 6.
The Sharks have made the Conference Finals three times since joining the NHL in 1991, but they have yet to play for the Stanley Cup. New head coach Peter DeBoer could change all that Wednesday night; DeBoer led the 2011-12 New Jersey Devils to the Cup final in his first season in Newark.
Wednesday's NHL Conference Finals Betting Preview
By Covers.com
St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks (A: +140, H: -160, O/U: 5)
The San Jose Sharks are one win away from the first trip to the Stanley Cup final in franchise history and can punch their ticket with a victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues in Wednesday's Game 6. The Sharks pushed the Blues to the brink of elimination with a 6-3 win in St. Louis on Monday to seize a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.
San Jose relied on a familiar formula to edge closer to advancing beyond the Western Conference final for the first time in four attempts -- a staunch power play and its No. 1 line anchored by captain Joe Pavelski. "You don't get this chance every day on home ice," Sharks forward Chris Tierney said of the possibility of wrapping up the series at the SAP Center. "Sometimes you might not get this chance in your career, or maybe once. I think guys know that and they really want to take advantage of it." The Blues fell to 4-6 at home with Monday's loss, but they won Games 5 and 7 in Dallas in the second round and had their best performance of their series with a 6-3 victory in Game 4 at San Jose. "The realization is we win or we go home," St. Louis captain David Backes said. "That's how much onus we need to put on playing our best game of the series."
PROBABLE GOALIES:
Blues - Brian Elliott (W/L: 9-8, GAA: 2.34, SAVE %: .928)
Sharks - Martin Jones (W/L: 11-6, GAA: 2.13, SAVE %: .918)
ABOUT THE BLUES (59-31-11, 40-45 O/U): Coach Ken Hitchcock made a bold move prior to Game 4 and replaced goaltender Brian Elliott with Jake Allen - and he's hoping for a similar result in Wednesday's win-or-go-home Game 6 by turning back to Elliott, who was pulled in Game 3 after starting the first 17 games of the postseason. "We got the jolt we needed from Jake," Hitchcock said in explaining why he's going back to Elliott. "These are Brian's playoffs. We'd like to see him finish the job." What St. Louis really needs is some production from leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko, who has failed to register a point in the series and has one goal -- an empty-netter -- in the last eight contests.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (57-33-9, 50-38 O/U): Pavelski is showing why he wears the "C" for San Jose, not only scoring a playoff-leading 12 goals but making them count -- he tied Game 5 by scoring late in the second period before putting the Sharks ahead to stay 16 seconds into the third with a highlight-reel deflection. "You think back to some of the best scorers ever," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "His ability to get his stick on pucks in the offensive zone, in front of the net, different angles, is as good as anybody I've ever seen. But it's a great lesson. He works at it every day." Joe Thornton set up three goals Monday to tie teammate Logan Couture with a playoff-best 14 assists.
TRENDS:
* Blues are 4-0 in their last 4 after allowing 5 goals or more in their previous game.
* Sharks are 6-1 in their last 7 home games.
* Over is 16-3-7 in Blues last 26 games playing on 1 days rest.
* Over is 4-0-1 in Sharks last 5 Wednesday games.
* Blues are 8-3 in the last 11 meetings in San Jose.
CONSENSUS: The home team San Jose Sharks are getting 61 percent of the public wagers for Wednesday's Game 6. The Consensus picks on the total are favoring the Over at a rate of 65 percent.
ST LOUIS (59-32-0-10, 128 pts.) at SAN JOSE (57-34-0-8, 122 pts.) - 5/25/2016, 9:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
SAN JOSE is 26-12 ATS (+8.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
SAN JOSE is 21-6 ATS (+14.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
ST LOUIS is 59-42 ATS (+5.4 Units) in all games this season.
ST LOUIS is 29-16 ATS (+12.7 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5 or less this season.
ST LOUIS is 21-11 ATS (+9.9 Units) in road games second half of the season this season.
ST LOUIS is 34-24 ATS (+7.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ST LOUIS is 23-15 ATS (+6.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 13-17 ATS (-10.3 Units) in a home game where where the total is 5 or less this season.
SAN JOSE is 28-29 ATS (-23.3 Units) in home games second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
SAN JOSE is 9-12 ATS (-7.7 Units) in home games after a win by 2 goals or more this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
SAN JOSE is 9-5 (+2.8 Units) against the spread versus ST LOUIS over the last 3 seasons
SAN JOSE is 9-5-0 straight up against ST LOUIS over the last 3 seasons
8 of 13 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+3.0 Units)
ST. LOUIS vs. SAN JOSE
St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis's last 6 games when playing San Jose
San Jose is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games
San Jose is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
St Louis at San Jose
St Louis: 31-19 SU in road games
San Jose: 9-12 SU in home games after a win by 2 goals or more