The Vegas Golden Knights had a chance to lock up the West’s top spot on Monday but lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. Now the Knights will need to win Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks — a team they are 7-0 SU against this year — in order to keep their first-place hopes alive.
Vegas has a two-point advantage over the Avs but Colorado has a game in hand and owns the tiebreaker (more regulation wins). A second-place finish for the Golden Knights would mean facing Minnesota in the first round — a team that has given them plenty of trouble all year.
Here are our free picks and predictions for Vegas Golden Knights vs San Jose Sharks for Wednesday, May 12 (9:00 PM ET).
Golden Knights vs Sharks game info
• Location: SAP Center, San Jose, CA
• Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
• Time: [9:00 p.m. ET]
• TV: SportsNet RM, NBCS-CA+
Golden Knights vs Sharks odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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NHL Sharp Money and Line Movement Report
By Patrick EversonDraftKings opened Vegas a -195 favorite Monday night, moved to -210 very early today and is at -200 at 12:45 p.m. ET on game day. It's all Golden Knights on the moneyline so far, at 92 percent of tickets and 85 percent of money. The total is steady at 6, although the Under is getting 73 percent of tickets/82 percent of dollars.
Check out the full line movement for this gameGolden Knights at Sharks betting preview
Injuries
Golden Knights: Alec Martinez D (Questionable), Max Pacioretty F (Questionable), Tomas Nosek F (Questionable), Ryan Reaves F (Out), Petyon Krebs F (Questionable).
Sharks: Ryan Donato F (Questionable), Logan Couture F (Questionable), John Leonard F (Questionable).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Golden Knights are 10-1 SU in the last 11 meetings. Find more NHL betting trends for Golden Knights vs. Sharks.
Puckline pick
The Golden Knights are coming off a hard-fought 2-1 loss to the Avalanche on Monday that could have won the division. Instead, they lost and now are in danger of falling to second in the West. Lost in all the divisional rivalry was the fact that Vegas dressed just 15 players — 10 forwards and five defensemen — due to salary cap restrictions and injuries. If it weren’t for Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer, Vegas could have easily skated away with the victory but the Avs’ netminder stood on his head and shut down a Vegas team that outplayed its opponent.
There isn’t much news whether the Knights will have to circumvent the cap again on Wednesday, but they could be without Alec Martinez, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Nosek, Ryan Reaves and Petyon Krebs again. Additionally, thanks to the short bench, lots of Vegas skaters played more Monday than any one game all year. But can these factors affect a Knights team that is 7-0 SU against the Sharks?
It’s been a disappointing season for San Jose who doesn’t have much to play for ahead of Wednesday’s tilt — unless you call not getting swept an accomplishment. The Sharks have gotten thrashed by the Golden Knights all year having dropped all seven meetings this season by a combined score of 27-13. San Jose may just want the hurting to stop as it comes into the season’s final game with a 2-14 SU record across its last 16. Only the Jets have been playing worse since the trade deadline.
The Sharks also seem content to give their young goalies an opportunity as rookie netminders Josef Korenar and Alexei Melnichuk have started the team’s previous three games. Korenar is an undrafted 23-year-old who has allowed at least four goals in three of his last five starts, while Melnichuk gave up five in his NHL debut three days ago.
If the Sharks pull a no-show and start a non-NHL-caliber goalie against a Vegas team that almost knocked off the Avs with its beer-league lineup, it could get ugly Wednesday night. The Knights don’t want to play the Wild in the first round and the best way to avoid that is to win.
PREDICTION: Vegas -1.5 (+120)
Team total pick
The season series has gone 4-3 to the Under, but with San Jose scoring more than two goals just twice over those seven meetings, Vegas has done most of the heavy lifting in this series.
Since the trade deadline, the Sharks have been a below-average scoring team at 2.71 goals per game, but it has been their power play that is our greatest concern. San Jose is just 2 for 37 over their last 14 games with the man advantage, and facing the league’s best penalty kill, we aren’t expecting any help from the PP on the Over.
Furthermore, we don’t exactly trust the Under, as the Sharks are giving up the most goals per game over the last two months at 3.93. They rank just behind the Flyers in team save percentage (90.6%) which bodes well for the Knights, who take the most quality shots per game 5 on 5 in the league, per Money Puck.
With Robin Lehner starting Monday’s 2-1 loss, it should be Marc-Andre Fleury’s crease on Wednesday. The veteran goalie has won eight straight starts and hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of them. MAF is locked in right now and just past Roberto Luongo to become the third-winningest goalie in NHL history.
With Vegas still having a lot at stake, likely starting Fleury and playing a team that can’t wait for the season to end, we’re avoiding the game total and instead, hitting the Over on the Vegas team total of 3.5 — a number it has topped against the Sharks in four of the seven meetings this year.
PREDICTION: Vegas team total Over 3.5 (-115)
Golden Knights vs Sharks betting card
- Vegas -1.5 (+120)
- Vegas team total Over 3.5 (-115)
Picks made on 5/12/2021 at 4:30 a.m. ET
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