NHL Picks – Top Dawgs in the West

The Vancouver Canucks, fresh off a win at home travel to San Jose to face a Sharks team that appears to have regained their form after struggles consumed the team last week. Not only is this a matchup of the the first and third seeds in the Western Conference, but it is a throwdown between the NHL’s second and fourth ranked offenses.

Vancouver Canucks (45-25-4) @ San Jose Sharks (45-19-10)
10:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 27, 2010
HP Pavillion, San Jose, California

Click Here for more Free Expert NHL Hockey Picks

• The San Jose Sharks rank 4th on offense, and average 3.1 goals per game. The Sharks are 21.6% on the power play and have 61 power play goals.
• The Vancouver Canucks rank 2nd on offense, and average 3.2 goals per game. The Canucks are 21.5% on the power play and have 63 power play goals.
• The Sharks average 3.4 goals per game at home, and give up 2.3 goals against on defense.
• The Canucks average 2.9 goals per game on the road, and give up 3.0 goals against on defense.

Vancouver Canucks: +125

The Vancouver Canucks will continue their climb towards top spot in the Western Conference on Saturday night against a team that they are going to have to pass to achieve that feat. The Canucks are currently six points back of the Sharks at present and Saturday’s four point game will be critical if they want to ascend to the top.

It is not much of a secret what has made the Canucks successful this year. It has been the play of the Sedin twins who have propelled their team to the second ranked overall offense in the NHL.  Henrik Sedin added another three assists against the Ducks on Wednesday night to overtake Alex Ovechkin for the scoring lead in the NHL. The supporting cast has been great as well, boasting six players with 20 or more goals. Roberto Luongo has been simply average lately and has gotten pulled from seven games already this season. He is the only real question mark, however small, for the Canucks going into the playoffs.

Vancouver is only 18-17-2 on the road this season and is a dismal 2-8 vs. The Sharks in their last 10 meetings.

San Jose Sharks: -145

The San Jose Sharks gave their fans quite a scare last week. They lost five straight games (all on the road), but have rebounded with two straight wins. The Sharks are a Western Conference best 45-19-10 and are the first Western team to reach the 100 point plateau.

The San Jose Sharks seem to have shaken their late season slump in which they were outscored 24-10 in five games. Evgenini Nabokov has played better in his last two games and the offense appears to have tightened up their play as of late. In the last couple of weeks, nobody’s stats will jump off of the page, except for maybe Rob Blake who has tallied five points in his last two games. The Sharks are just a bunch of bullies that will beat you any way that they can. Expect the Sharks to flex a bit of muscle and improve on their 23-6-8 home record.

Pick: San Jose Sharks -145

Click Here for more Free Expert NHL Hockey Picks