Canadian Tire Centre will play host to an enticing matchup as the Ottawa Senators welcome the visiting San Jose Sharks. The first puck will drop at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 27, and you are able to catch this East-West matchup live on NBC Sports California.
San Jose Sharks vs. Ottawa Senators Odds
San Jose (-165) is tabbed as the favorite over Ottawa (+145), and oddsmakers have put the Over/Under (O/U) at 7 goals. If you want to play the matchup’s total, you’ll be looking at odds of -110 for the over and -110 for the under.
San Jose is 4-7 straight up (SU) and has lost 3.8 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 11 regular season outings, six of its games have gone under the total, while five have gone over and none have pushed. As an away team this season, the Sharks are 2-5 SU.
San Jose has scored on 25.0 percent of its power play chances thus far. That’s a good improvement from last year, when it was ranked sixth in the NHL by scoring on 22.5 percent of its extra-man chances. Its penalty kill has also gotten stronger since last year, as the team has gone from successfully defending 80.5 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked 14th overall last season) to 92.5 percent this year.
San Jose, as a collective unit, has been penalized 4.1 times per game during the 2019-20 season. Last year, that number was the mark in the league at 3.7 penalties per game. After serving an average of 9.6 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team’s had to stave off opponent power plays for 10.9 minutes per matchup this season.
Averaging 27.1 saves per game with a .893 save percentage, Martin Jones (2-6-1) has been the best option in goal for San Jose this season. If head coach Peter Deboer decides to rest him, however, the team may go with Aaron Dell (2-2), who has a .906 save percentage and 3.03 goals against average this year.
The visiting Sharks have relied on Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl this season. Burns (10 points) is up to two goals and eight assists, and has recorded multiple points three times. Hertl has three goals and seven assists to his credit (and has registered a point in four games).
On the other side of the ice, Ottawa is 2-8 straight up (SU) and has lost 4.8 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 10 regular season contests, five of its games have gone over the total, while another five have gone under and none have pushed. The team’s 2-4 SU at home so far this year.
Ottawa has converted on just 6.1 percent of its power play chances this season, a figure that’s ranked 31st in the NHL. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 81.4 percent of all penalties.
Ottawa players have been sent to the penalty box 4.9 times per game this season, a number that has climbed noticeably from the 3.3 penalties per game given up last year. After serving an average of 8.5 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team has been forced to kill penalties for a noteworthy 12.2 minutes per matchup this season.
Anders Nilsson has stopped 34.0 shots per game as the primary netminder in goal for Ottawa. Nilsson has one win, four losses, and one overtime loss to his credit and has registered a .919 save percentage and 3.36 goals against average this season.
The Sens will be led on offense by Connor Brown (zero goal, eight assists) and Thomas Chabot (one goals, seven assists).
San Jose Sharks vs. Ottawa Senators Free Picks
Pick: SU Winner – Senators, O/U – Under
Betting Notes
- For both of these clubs, the over has hit in three of their last five outings.
- San Jose has managed 27.2 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Ottawa is averaging 31.8 shots per game over its last five home outings.
- The Senators are 0-3 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 0-2 when they serve fewer than 10 total penalty minutes.
- After going 0-1 in games decided by a shootout last year, Ottawa is off to a 0-1 start in shootouts this season. San Jose went 0-3 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
