Betting news, trends, odds and predictions from various handicappers and websites for Tuesday 5/21/19
The St. Louis Blues are just one game away from reaching the Stanley Cup finals as they take on the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, May 21. San Jose will try to stave off elimination for the fifth time in these playoffs but need a much more impressive performance after their 5-0 loss to St. Louis in Game 5.
This was a contest dominated by St. Louis almost from the opening face-off. Oskar Sundqvist scored 5:50 into the game. In the second, Jaden Schwartz would score the first of his three goals a little over three minutes into the frame. About four minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko added his seventh goal of the playoffs, and Schwartz would deliver two third-period goals, one on the power play to complete the 5-0 drubbing. Jordan Binnington was rarely tested on the afternoon, stopping all 21 shots he faced.
Lines provided by BetDSI Sportsbook. Get the trends for all National Hockey League Games here.
Featured Games
San Jose Sharks (+145) vs. St. Louis Blues (-167)
San Jose Notes
San Jose is 4-0 in the elimination games during the postseason. They came from 3-1 down against Vegas, winning all three games to advance to the next round. The Sharks were tied 3-3 in the series with Colorado in the last round, winning Game 7 at home to advance, so this is a battle-tested team who will not shy away from the tough opportunity.
Logan Couture leads all players in scoring during the playoffs but has been held pointless over the last two games.
The San Jose Sharks will look to become just the second team in Stanley Cup history to play three series that went the distance to reach the Stanley Cup finals.
St. Louis Notes
Schwartz came through with his second hat trick of these playoffs, giving him 12 goals this postseason. That puts him just one behind the Blues record for goals in a playoff season, held by Brett Hull (1980).
The Blues have suddenly become a rather mediocre team at home. They have won seven of their last nine games on the road, but have lost five of their last nine at home.
Goaltending Matchup:
Coming off of a two-goal performance in Game 4, there was a good reason to believe that Martin Jones was returning to form. However, he got battered early, saving just 35 of 40 shots he faced. That gives him a total of 18 goals allowed over the last five games, clearly not good enough if this team is going to stave off elimination on Tuesday. Jones has a 2.96 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in the first 19 games of these playoffs.
Binnington has looked absolutely brilliant over the last two games, stopping 50 of the 51 shots he has faced. After giving up five goals in both Game 1 and Game 3, he looks like the netminder who posted a 1.89 goals-against average during the regular season. Binnington has a 2.44 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 18 postseason games this year.
Stat Pack:
Sharks:
Goals For: 3.00
Goals Against: 3.21
Power-Play: 18.2%
Penalty Killing: 81.7%
Blues:
Goals For: 2.89
Goals Against: 2.61
Power-Play: 16.7%
Penalty Killing: 77.5%
Trends to Know
San Jose Sharks are:
9-4 in their last 13 games.
3-7 in their last 10 games on the road.
7-15 in their last 22 conference finals games.
St. Louis Blues are:
3-4 in their last seven conference finals games.
35-17 in their last 52 games.
18-7 in their last 25 games at home.
Prediction
Those trends would give you the idea that St. Louis has been playing exceptionally well at home of late, but that is not the case. The Blues have lost five of their last nine games there, and have played exceptionally well on the road. However, there is no doubt that they do not want to return to California to face a Sharks team that has already won two Game 7s at home this postseason.
Jones looked shell-shocked during Game 5 while Binnington looked in complete command. Right now confidence is going to mean everything and that clearly is on the side of St. Louis. Unless Couture can figure out how to find the back of the net again the Sharks are done.
The total is set at 5.5 for this contest, and these two teams have gone under in each of the last two games after going over in each of the first three. With the exception of Game 4, every game has been fairly wide open, and San Jose has to realize that if they are going to win that they need to return to the style of play that helps them to take a 2-1 series lead early on. Look for a little more wide open contest, but still, take the St. Louis Blues to win an advance with a 4-2 victory.
NHL
Dunkel
Tuesday, May 21
San Jose @ St. Louis
Game 25-26
May 21, 2019 @ 8:00 pm
Dunkel Rating:
San Jose
10.475
St. Louis
12.882
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
St. Louis
by 2 1/2
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
St. Louis
-150
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
St. Louis
(-150); Under
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NHL
Long Sheet
Tuesday, May 21
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SAN JOSE (56-35-0-10, 122 pts.) at ST LOUIS (56-33-0-11, 123 pts.) - 5/21/2019, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
ST LOUIS is 41-22 ATS (+8.4 Units) second half of the season this season.
ST LOUIS is 35-23 ATS (+4.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ST LOUIS is 23-11 ATS (+11.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 92-58 ATS (+26.2 Units) in road games on Tuesday nights since 1996.
SAN JOSE is 227-242 ATS (+512.1 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record since 1996.
ST LOUIS is 17-23 ATS (-14.1 Units) in home games after a win by 2 goals or more over the last 3 seasons.
Head-to-Head Series History
ST LOUIS is 8-6 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
ST LOUIS is 8-6-0 straight up against SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
8 of 11 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+4.4 Units)
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NHL
Tuesday, May 21
Trend Report
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San Jose Sharks
San Jose is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
San Jose is 4-8 SU in its last 12 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of San Jose's last 11 games when playing St. Louis
San Jose is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
San Jose is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Jose's last 5 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games
St. Louis is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games
St. Louis is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games at home
St. Louis is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of St. Louis's last 11 games when playing San Jose
St. Louis is 2-9 ATS in its last 11 games when playing at home against San Jose
St. Louis is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against San Jose
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis's last 5 games when playing at home against San Jose
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ST. LOUIS (AP) Jaden Schwartz is on a scoring run that has the St. Louis Blues dreaming big.
Schwartz's hat trick in Game 5 on Sunday helped give the Blues a 3-2 series lead against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference final and set the single-season franchise record for playoff wins.
The Blues could advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970 when they host Game 6 Tuesday night.
''It's probably tough to put into words,'' Schwartz said. ''It's something that everyone's worked for and dreamed about. You don't want to look too far ahead. We all know how important and how hard that last win's going to be. It would be a dream come true.''
Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko have played huge roles in the Blues' playoff success. Just not necessarily in the way that was expected.
Tarasenko has come up with more big assists than goals against the Sharks.
Meanwhile, Schwartz has found a scoring touch that eluded him during the regular season. After scoring 11 goals in 69 regular-season games, Schwartz has 12 goals in 18 playoff games.
''He's obviously a tenacious player, a hard-working player,'' Blues coach Craig Berube said. ''I know, goal-wise, he didn't have a good regular season, but the work ethic was there and other things besides not producing with the goals.
''He's a 200-foot player for us and he's around the net for us, that's where he scores. His hard work, being relentless and staying with it is paying off.''
Schwartz's scoring run began on a quick pass from Tyler Bozak with 15 seconds left in regulation to snap a 2-2 tie in Game 5 in the first round against Winnipeg. He followed that up with a hat trick in Game 6 to send the Blues to the second round.
Schwartz is the first player to have two hat tricks in the same playoffs since Johan Franzen did it for Detroit in 2008 and he is the first to do it for the Blues.
Not bad for a guy who went 23 games without a goal during the regular season.
''He's obviously been kind of our engine and a guy that's scored huge goals for us throughout every series,'' Bozak said.
''Pucks weren't going in as much as he probably wanted in the regular season, but he was still playing really good hockey I thought and getting a lot of chances. And obviously what he's done in this playoffs so far has been incredible. We're pretty lucky to have him and we know he's just going to keep getting better and keep doing those things for us.''
Tarasenko is the only player to get a point in every game of the Western Conference final. But just two of his seven points in the series are goals.
Instead he has become a potent playmaker, setting up Bozak's eventual game-winning goal in Game 4 and assisting on two of Schwartz's goals in Game 5.
''Every time he gets the puck he puts them on edge,'' Blues center Ryan O'Reilly said. ''Having such a shot like he does, teams are scared when he gets the puck and obviously they maybe will overcompensate for that and other things come available. Having played with him throughout the year, you see how dangerous he is whether it's taking that shot or just being that threat that opens so much up.''
Tarasenko's unselfish play was evident on Schwartz's third goal. Carrying the puck on the power play, he could have taken a shot. But with San Jose playing the shot, he found Schwartz cutting towards the net for a one-timer into a wide-open net.
''Vlady is a good passer, he makes plays,'' Berube said. ''He's got his head up a lot, sees the ice well. His hard work is paying off. He's working hard without the puck, and he's a powerful guy.''
Tarasenko has led the Blues in goals in each of the past five seasons. Though he has taken a back seat to Schwartz in goal-scoring, the Blues are thriving in the postseason as never before from his playmaking ability.
And they are one win away from playing for the Stanley Cup, which many thought would have been impossible on Jan. 3 when the Blues were at the bottom of the NHL standings.
''Everyone knows we have a lot of work to do and we're going to get their best game,'' Schwartz said. ''They're going to have the most desperation they've had in this series. We'll enjoy it tonight, but we know there's a lot of work yet.''
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The San Jose Sharks could be headed into their fifth elimination game of the postseason short-handed.
The Sharks left town Monday to play Game 6 of the Western Conference final at St. Louis with questions about the status of captain Joe Pavelski, high-scoring forward Tomas Hertl and playmaking defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Coach Peter DeBoer gave no update on their conditions and didn't say whether any of the three made the trip to St. Louis. San Jose lost all three stars to injuries during a 5-0 loss at home to the Blues on Sunday that left them trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2 headed into Tuesday night's game.
The Sharks have already staved off elimination four times this postseason, rallying from 3-1 down in a first-round series against Vegas and then winning a seventh game on home ice in the second round against Colorado.
''We've dealt with this before and guys have stepped in and got the job done,'' DeBoer said. ''People can write us off but I know in our room we know we have guys in there who we know can step in and get this done.''
Pulling it off again against a deep and physical Blues team could be even more of a challenge, especially if the Sharks will be missing some key pieces.
Karlsson has been dealing with groin injuries since January. He missed 27 of the final 33 regular-season games but returned for the start of the playoffs even if he often looked hampered by the injury. Karlsson appeared to be finding his groove, scoring two goals, including the overtime winner, in Game 3 at St. Louis before coming up lame again in the fourth game.
Karlsson played just one shift in the final 9:24 of Game 4 but told DeBoer he was good to go Sunday. He wasn't moving well early in the game and committed a turnover that led to St. Louis' first goal. He played just 3:03 in the second period and was unable to accelerate on the play that led to Vladimir Tarasenko's penalty shot. Karlsson then didn't come back out for the third as DeBoer acknowledged he had regrets about playing him.
If Karlsson is unable to go, Tim Heed will likely get his first action since filling in for an injured Marc-Edouard Vlasic in Games 3 and 4 of the opening round. But the Sharks will miss Karlsson, who has two goals and 14 assists this postseason.
Hertl was hit high in the first period by Ivan Barbashev in a play the Sharks believe should have been penalized as an illegal hit to the head. He remained in the game through the second period but also didn't come out for the third.
That was the second time this series the Sharks felt one of their players got hit in the head with no penalty in the game or supplemental discipline. Defenseman Justin Braun got hit by Sammy Blais in Game 3.
''You don't want to see your teammates get hit like that,'' Braun said. ''You can't worry about the refs' calls or non-calls. You have to go out there and keep playing.''
Pavelski, who led the team with 38 goals in the regular season, dealt with yet another injury early in the third when Alex Pietrangelo sent him into the boards and appeared to hit him high at the end with an elbow. Pavelski didn't return and there is concern because he missed six games already this postseason after a bloody concussion when his helmet slammed into the ice in Game 7 against Vegas.
If Hertl and Pavelski can't go, the Sharks' depth up front will take a serious hit. Marcus Sorensen, who missed two of the past three games, could move back into the lineup, with winger Lukas Radil and untested center Dylan Gambrell also options.
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