Thursday night should be a bloodbath at the Shark Tank. The San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators have gone back and forth with each other for two weeks, and it all will be decided in a winner-take-all Game 7 to decide who will head to the Western Conference Finals.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
It's really hard to argue with San Jose as the overwhelming favorite in Game 7 of this series. The Sharks had tons of chances to win Game 4 and Game 6 in Nashville, and the Predators have felt the whole way as if they're just trying to hang in there against a superior team.
San Jose, which has won four straight games here at the SAP Center, topped out at -169 in Game 5. We don't think it'll be favored by quite that much in this one, but the margin will surely be greater than -150.
GOALIE REPORT
Pekka Rinne is going to get a lot of credit for his two overtime wins in this series, but he really wasn't good at all on Monday night in Game 6. He allowed three goals on just 18 shots, and on the third goal of the night he gave up to Logan Couture, he was left flailing after he literally just fell down in the middle of the play.
Martin Jones took the loss in Game 6, and we'll be the first to admit that the last goal he allowed to end the game was weak over his shoulder. However, he made a ton of huge saves, particularly when the action was all on his end of the ice in the last seven minutes of regulation time, and he deserved a better fate than he finished with.
LIVE BETTING
James Neal didn't score a goal in Game 6, and he only had two shots on goal, but he was the most dangerous player on the ice. He's basically willing the Predators at this point with his gritty play and his ability to get in front of the net, but where he's really proving valuable is in front of his own net.
He and the rest of the forwards did a fantastic job in Game 6 of getting traffic out of the way of Rinne, and that really kept the Sharks from getting much of anything on target.
Neal must outplay all of the Sharks’ big boys in this one to give the Preds a shot in Game 7.
QUICK PICK
Nashville has a real chance here in Game 7, and we would recommend taking it for value at a price of around +140 or so.
That said, if you ask us who's winning this game more often than not, we're going to take San Jose. History tells you that this is where the Sharks will surely tank, but they just feel different this year from the teams which choked time and time again in the playoffs.
Jones has been super gritty, and we expect he's going to bounce back from that weak game-winning goal. Eventually, talent is going to outweigh heart and hustle, and if that's the case, the Preds are dead.
It's been a fantastic run by Nashville, and no one wearing gold should be disappointed with the effort, but San Jose was meant to advance from this series and perhaps win the whole darn thing from here.
NHL Odds: Sharks 3, Predators 2
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