Once Upon A Time in America Betting Show
The San Jose Sharks (11-19-7, 29 points, 7th Pacific) head to the Lone Star State on Saturday for an NHL showdown with the Dallas Stars (22-9-6, 50 points, 1st Central). San Jose has lost 2 straight after falling to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Thursday. San Jose has lost five of its last six. Dallas won its third straight when defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Thursday. The Stars have won four of the last five and have extended their lead in the Central division to five points over Winnipeg. San Jose will play without Matt Benning, Luke Kunin and Markus Nutivaara. Dallas will play without Nick Caamano and Denis Gurianov.
The San Jose Sharks are allowing an average of 3.63 goals per game which is 28th in the NHL. San Jose is holding opponents to an average of 30.6 shots per game which is 12th. The Sharks have the best penalty-kill unit in hockey, holding opponents scoreless 84.9% of the time San Jose is shorthanded. James Reimer is 7-10-3 with a 3.14 goals-against average and .898 save percentage, while Kaapo Kahkonen is 3-7-3 with a 3.83 goals-against average in .870 save percentage.
San Jose is scoring an average of 3.03 goals per game which is 24th in the NHL. The Sharks are averaging 29.5 shots per game which is 25th and San Jose has the 16th best power play, scoring 22.8% of the time with the man advantage. Timo Meier is the leading goal scorer for San Jose with 20, while Logan Couture is second with 14 goals. Erik Karlsson is the leader in assists with 37 and the points leader with 50. Tomas Hertl is second in assists with 22 and Meier is second in points with 37. San Jose has scored 24 power play goals in 37 games.