NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction: Hurricanes vs. Sharks (October 14)

Hurricanes vs. Sharks Odds

Brent Burns will make his return to San Jose on Friday night as the Sharks host the Carolina Hurricanes in their home opener.

San Jose will look to avoid an 0-3 start after a pair of tough losses in Prague, but it will be tough to do so against a Hurricanes team that is among the cup favorites this season.

Will the Sharks pull off the upset Friday?

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Carolina Hurricanes

As the game wore along, Carolina looked true to form on opening night, generating 43 shots on goal from a ridiculous total of 92 shot attempts, leading to a strong xGF/60 of 3.75.

Brent Burns alone produced a whopping 13 shot attempts and looked solid taking over Tony DeAngelo's vacated spot leading the top powerplay unit.

Carolina's overall depth showed as the contest wore along and I believe we will see that narrative play out a lot this season. Coach Rod Brind'Amour's team features a ton of speed and its aggressive tenacity up-and-down the lineup is well known across the league.

The Hurricanes absolutely demolished the Pacific division's softer competition last season (13-2-1) and I believe that holds a small amount of relevancy in this spot.

Frederik Andersen looked sharp in his first start since his injury from late last season and stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced.

It's possible Brind'Amour views this as a spot to get Antti Raanta into a game early in the season, which would not hold as much merit handicapping wise in my mind as it may for others.

That's due to the fact that Carolina simply plays tremendous team defense. That defense allowed Raanta to thrive last season and he played to a +3.7 GSAx and .912 save %.

San Jose Sharks

San Jose's two opening contests in Prague were far from impressive and certainly outlined what could likely be consistent concerns all season for a team widely expected to finish toward the bottom of the league.

The Sharks managed just three combined goals throughout those two contests.

A concern heading into San Jose's season was that it would lack any kind of finishing talent behind stars Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl. Unfortunately for the Sharks, that lack of depth is exactly what we saw in the first two games.

Defensively, the Sharks were far from strong in those two contests and allowed a high xGA/60 rate of 3.06.

San Jose simply has far less on its roster than the Hurricanes. I could potentially see San Jose getting off to a fast start in this game, but the overall depth will make it tough to control play at an acceptable rate.

For a team expected to finish so low in the standings, I believe San Jose actually has a very stable goaltending tandem, which is one of its main edges over teams priced comparably in the betting markets.

James Reimer has been confirmed as the Sharks starter for this contest and should be viewed as a middle of the pack starting option this season after posting a +0.1 GSAx rating with a .911 save % behind a poor defense last season.

Hurricanes vs. Sharks Pick

Carolina holds considerable edges in all areas of the ice and I think this is a good opportunity to back the far better side at a favorable number.

Even if Antti Raanta starts for Carolina, +145 is a livable number as I think this is just a great spot to back a really strong Hurricanes team that has had a ton of success over the past two seasons.

I also like the fact that this is Brent Burns return to San Jose, as he is going to be a huge part of Carolina's roster this season and is always a locker room favorite.

Hopefully that leaves Carolina feeling a little more incentivized to play a sharp contest, which should mean a comfortable win against a less talented Sharks side.

Pick: Carolina Hurricanes -1.5 +145 (Play to +135)