Nashville Predators vs San Jose Sharks

San Jose has 9-7 after having lost 15 or more of their last 20. They're also 94-80 after allowing three or more goals in four consecutive contests. Nashville is home from a grueling four-game road trip that took them to the Northwest (Seattle) and Canada. They're on a 4-2 run, though they lost at Minnesota (4-3) along with a 4-3 home loss to Montreal as -220 chalk. The defense has had a rough week, as well, with defensemen Spencer Stastney and Dante Fabbro both out. And Nashville is 1-7 at home when working with two days of rest. Make it a Max Play on San Jose. 

Nashville is 20th in goals surrendered and 18th in save percentage (.901). They've won three in a row with the offense tallying 14 goals. Nashville is 50-33 OVER the total on the road against teams that allow 29.5+ shots on goal per game. San Jose is last in the NHL in goals given up (3.76 per game) and 25th in save percentage (898). San Jose is 40-29 OVER the total after having lost four or five of their last six, plus 44-25 OVER at home after getting shut out in the last game. And in the last two meetings between these teams, there have been six and eight total goals netted. Play Nashville/San Jose OVER the total. 

The Shark Tank used to be a death sentence for road teams, but the Sharks have lost a lot of their bite in recent years, and that is no longer the case. This year has been brutal (6-21 at home), and it'll be the fourth-straight season that San Jose finishes with a losing record at home. This coming after they were better than .500 in 12 of 13 seasons at home. The Predators are 7-1 in the last eight meetings but more importantly, they have won three of the last four here. Make the play on Nashville.

Nashville got off to a fast start thanks to some new acquisitions, including Nino Niederreiter, who scored his first goal for the Predators and Kiefer Sherwood, Eeli Tolvanen and Matt Duchene also scored for Nashville in a 4-1 victory on Friday in Prague. Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots as Nashville won its fifth straight against San Jose and seventh in the past nine meetings. The Sharks continued their recent history of having trouble scoring against Nashville as they now have only nine goals the last eight meetings. If Saros isn't in net in this back-to-back situation, Kevin Lankinen will get a chance. Kaapo Kahkonen is probable for the Sharks after James Reimer gave up three goals yesterday. Take the Predators.