Sharks vs. Blues Betting Odds, Preview: San Jose Is Banged Up for Game 6

Sharks vs. Blues Betting Odds, Preview: San Jose Is Banged Up for Game 6 article feature image
Credit:

Stan Szeto, USA Today Sports. Pictured: Alex Steen, Logan Couture

  • The St. Louis Blues are -170 favorites over the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
  • The Sharks will be without Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl, but should their odds be this high?

San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues Game 6 Betting Odds

  • Sharks odds: +150
  • Blues odds: -170
  • Over/Under: 5.5
  • TV: NBCSN
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET

>> All odds as of 12 p.m. ET. Download The Action Network App to get real-time NHL odds and track your bets


Not only did San Jose lose Game 5 but it was also decimated by injuries. Erik Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi all were hurt on Sunday afternoon. For those keeping count, that's a top-pair defenseman, two of the team's best forwards and an effective bottom-six winger. Not good.

Hertl and Karlsson have already been ruled out of Game 6, while Pavelski is a game-time decision. Losing two (maybe three) of your best players for an elimination game is not ideal and, as you could expect, the market has adjusted off the news that Hertl and Karlsson won't suit up.

The Battle at 5-on-5

Over the course of the series the Blues have started to separate themselves as the better 5-on-5 team. The two teams are basically split down the middle in terms of possession, but St. Louis is producing more quality scoring chances.

  • Shot share: San Jose 50.9%
  • High-danger chances: St. Louis 57.8%
  • Expected goals: St. Louis 56.1%

San Jose was among the league's best teams at 5-on-5 throughout the entire regular season, but the Sharks haven't been the same since the start of the playoffs.

Playing against a well-structured defensive unit like St. Louis is clearly taking its toll on the Sharks. During the regular season, San Jose averaged 62.3 shot attempts, 12.5 high-danger scoring chances and 2.6 expected goals for per 60 minutes. In this series, the Sharks are averaging 55.7 shot attempts, 8.6 high-danger chances and 1.97 expected goals for per 60.

When they are firing on all cylinders, the Sharks can make up for mediocre goaltending. When they are not driving play, Martin Jones needs to bail them out. He's done that a few times this postseason, but he was one of the worst starting goalies in the league this season.

Relying on a goalie to bail you out is never a recipe for success. Relying on Martin Jones to bail you out is a cry for help.

Game 6 Betting Analysis

According to The Action Network consensus odds, the Blues are -170 favorites on Tuesday night with the Sharks coming back at +150. Those odds imply that St. Louis has a 61.5% chance of winning Game 6, which is obviously the highest implied probability of the series.

So now the question for bettors is, do the Sharks, without the services of two of their best players, win this game 39% of the time?

I think the answer to that question is yes they do.

Plenty of people will tell you that the Sharks have "no chance" in this game and that they are toast, but those are incorrect statements. The betting market — the most efficient tool to use to project a hockey game — is telling you the Sharks have a 38.5% chance of forcing Game 7.

It's not a fun bet to make and you lose this wager more often than you win it, but it's hard to suggest there's any value left on the Blues at this point. Just blindly betting on a team because all the signs point to them winning, without accounting for price, is a bad long-term strategy.

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