Sharks vs. Capitals NHL Preview and Best Bet (Archive)
The Sharks swim into DC after dropping four of their last five while the Capitals have been struggling recently as well.
Let’s examine this Wednesday night’s interconference matchup and keep cashing our NHL picks!
San Jose Sharks vs. Washington Capitals
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 – 07:00 PM EST at Capital One Arena
Betting Preview
After a brief string in which the Sharks won three consecutive one-goal games – two of which came in overtime – San Jose has struggled mightily to put the puck in the net. This power outage has led to the Sharks losing four of their last five and scoring an average of 2.00 goals per game. Had it not been for the lone victory, a 6-2 win over the Kings, the Sharks would have been averaging less than a goal per game.
In their last outing, San Jose was blown out by the Lightning, 7-1, in their own building on Saturday night. The game was already out of control before the Sharks scored for their first and only time of the evening, Jaycob Megna’s first goal of the season assisted by Ryan Merkley.
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But the horse was out of the barn by that point and the Lightning would go on to strike three more times with a goal in the second period followed by a pair in the final frame.
Sharks’ goaltender, James Reimer, was chased at the 16:40 mark of the opening stanza, after allowing four goals on 13 shots. Platoon-mate, Adin Hill, would go the rest of the way and surrender three goals on 18 shots over the final two-plus periods.
San Jose coach Bob Boughner, said after the game, “I think this is the benchmark. If you want to play with the big guys, you have to compete. You have to bring your A-game. It starts with showing up. Our first 10, 15 minutes were a disaster. “I’m not challenging this team’s will or their urgency. But tonight, it was men against boys.”
Caps Looking to Get on Track
The Capitals have yet to create any consistency this season. The best they have done is cobble together a four-game winning streak in mid-November but aside from that, it has been a season of alternating wins and losses to a large extent.
However, Washington’s saving grace has been that a league-leading nine of their 20 losses this season have been of the overtime or shootout variety, giving them a point in the standings in each of those contests.
This has led to their fourth-place standing in the Metropolitan Division but only five points removed from the top spot, currently occupied by the New York Rangers.
In their last performance, the Capitals could not crack the code that was Vegas’ Robin Lehner as the veteran goalie turned aside all 34 shots and led the Golden Knights to a 1-0 victory over the Capitals. Washington’s netminder, Vitek Vanecek, was nearly as good in saving 28 of 29 shots but a second period tally by the Knights’ Michael Amadio proved to be the difference-maker.
Caps’ defenseman, Justin Schultz, commented on his team’s five missed power play opportunities, “Same things as our overall play, just a little bit inconsistent. We are getting some good looks, just not capitalizing. I think we might get a little frustrated from not scoring. We have the players to do it. We just have to stay with it and it will come.”
Wanna Make a Bet?
The NHL odds at all of the best online sportsbooks are revealing the Capitals as -176 home chalk against the supremely struggling San Jose Sharks. It’s not surprising that the early line is that steep and it could soar even higher as the game draws near.
These teams have met only once entering this matchup, a 4-0 win by the Caps in San Jose on November 20th. I’m not sure too much has changed since that time. We should also point out that the Capitals have won the last four and six of the last seven meetings between these clubs.
Although this iteration of the Washington Capitals still enjoys the immense talents of Alex Ovechkin, they are not the scoring juggernaut of years past. This edition averages 3.2 goals per game, placing them 12th in the league in scoring. However, the San Jose defense ranks 21st, allowing 3.1 goals per game and that is a mismatch that will be exploited.
The Pick
Laying the big lumber is not something I am fond of doing but there is no inherent value in this Sharks’ team at this point in the season unless the line rises to absurd heights. But even then, we should acknowledge the age-old sports betting maxim, “there is no value in losing”.
NHL Pick: Capitals ML (-176) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.