The floundering San Jose Sharks (14-25-10) are on the road to take on the Carolina Hurricanes (30-9-8), who will be out to build on their winning streak, at PNC Arena on Friday. San Jose is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss against the Red Wings on Tuesday, their third defeat in a row.
Timo Meier and Logan Couture both scored once for the Sharks. Erik Karlsson had two assists to lead the team in scoring. James Reimer had 32 saves in the loss. Carolina won their third in a row, beating the Stars 3-2 (OT) on Wednesday.
Brent Burns, Sebastian Aho, and Martin Necas scored one apiece for the Hurricanes. Brett Pesce had two assists to lead the team in scoring. Antti Raanta had a dominant performance with 15 saves to record his second shutout of the season.
HEAD TO HEAD
The Hurricanes won the first meeting between the teams this season, a 2-1 victory in October. Necas and Aho were on the scoresheet for Carolina. Evgeny Svechnikov scored San Jose’s only goal. Raanta got the win, saving 18 of 19 shots (.947%).
FACING OFF
San Jose is averaging 2.98 goals per game for the season, 23rd in the NHL, and they are taking on a Hurricanes team that is allowing 2.64 goals a game (7th).
Meanwhile, Carolina has found the net 3.21 times a game on average, 13th in the league, and the Sharks are allowing opponents to score 3.71 goals per game (29th).
Carolina averages more shots/game (35.1) than most teams in the league, ranking second, though the team’s 9.3% shooting percentage is 25th. San Jose has struggled with stopping shots, ranking No. 30 with a team save percentage of .886%.
The Sharks’ 20.00% power play percentage ranks 22nd in the league, while the Hurricanes are 26th with a conversion rate of 18.18%. San Jose has been equally impressive at penalty killing, boasting the league’s fourth-highest PK% at 83.69%. Carolina ranks 11th at 80.98%.
TOP PERFORMERS:
With 64 points this season, seventh-most in the NHL, Karlsson is the top skater for the Sharks. He leads the league with 49 assists and has added 15 goals of his own. In the net, Reimer (8-14-5) is San Jose’s top goaltender by goals against average.
He has a 3.25 GAA and a .896% save percentage.Necas and Aho lead the Hurricanes in scoring with 42 and 41 points, respectively. Necas has 19 goals and 23 assists in 47 games, while Aho has 18 goals and 23 assists in 40 games. Pyotr Kochetkov (10-4-5) has the best goals against average for Carolina at 2.33. He has a save percentage of .913%.
HOME AND AWAY
San Jose is looking to snap a four-game road losing streak this season. Carolina is 14-5-2 at home this season.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
Carolina Hurricanes -1.5 (-110)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
