Canucks at Sharks Game 3 Odds and Predictions – Free NHL Picks 5-20-11

Free NHL Playoffs Picks and Odds – Game 3 Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks Favorite, Moneyline, Total and Predictions 5/20/11: The Vancouver Canucks are feasting on the San Jose Sharks careless play, which has rendered them two games up in the western conference final. There 7-2 thrashing of the Sharks in game two might have been their most dominant performance of the season as all four lines were top notch. They excelled at turning the Sharks carless mistakes into points. Vancouver notched 5 tallies simply from converting on errant passes or careless line changes. The Sedin Twins finally seem to be rounding into form as the pair accounted for 4 points on the night and were seen creating opportunities on each of their shifts in the game. Ryan Kesler is a determined man and he is putting together one of the most ferocious and dominant playoff campaigns in some time. There is never a shift where the American sniper is not seen fighting for the puck in the corners, making a hard-crisp pass from the defensive zone, creating a scoring opportunity, or even laying a big-time playoff hit. He is leading by example and his play is contagious across the board for the entire Canucks hockey club. The Canucks have to at least grab 1 of the 2 games in San Jose because the last thing they want is to give a momentum rush to the side of the Sharks.

The Sharks are in crisis mode early in this west final and desperately need to find their furious attack that has gotten them to this point. They have had no answers for the Canucks fast-paced style of hockey and are seen on countless occurrences out of position, dazed and confused. In order for the Sharks to get back into this series they will have to revert from attempting to play the Canucks brand of hockey and turn back to their style, hard-noised, aggressive puck. The intensity and physicality needs to be bumped up 10 notches for the Sharks to have an optimal opportunity of getting back into this series. Head coach Todd McClellan will need to raise the aggressiveness of the entire hockey club for game three, no better place to commence this approach then on home ice. The Sharks have been quite successful this season when playing in the confines of the “tank”, they are top 5 in home winning percentage and have one of the better crowds in the entire league.

Tonight we will recommend a play on the San Jose Sharks at home in the Shark Tank(Get the latest lines at JustBET Sportsbook). The Sharks were humiliated in game two in Vancouver 7-2 and if we have come to know one thing about the Sharks, it is that they hate being embarrassed. In fact, the Sharks have come out victorious in every game this season when coming off of a loss of 4 goals or more. San Jose played two solid periods with the Canucks but was gassed when the puck dropped for the third frame. The San Jose Sharks are no slouch in a hockey club and I expect them to claw their way back into this series. The top line of Joe Thornton, Danny Heatley, and Patrick Marleau is arguably the most talented unit in the league and they all love playing in the confines of their own barn. For all of the Canucks success over the last few seasons, they have never fared playing in the Shark Tank. The Canucks have a winning percentage of .387 in San Jose over the last five seasons and Roberto Lulongo has never emerged victorious in a single playoff game when playing the Californian green and black. Vancouver is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing on the road against San Jose, while San Jose is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home. The Sharks have faced adversity in their two previous series’ and I do not expect them to crumble at this point. We will consider the Sharks coming out in furry and pulling this series back into contention. Cheers!

Free Pick: San Jose Sharks -125(Moneyline)
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