San Jose at St. Louis

San Jose opens this round on the road, but the Sharks are a sizzling 31-11-4 away from home this season. That's more wins than the Blues have at home. St. Louis just lost two games at home to Dallas in its second straight seven-game series. St. Louis is a defensive team first, #15 in the NHL in goals scored. The Blues have had the max seven games the last two rounds, not the optimum recipe to make the Stanley Cup Finals. This San Jose squad is talented, tough and balanced at fourth in the league in goals scored, third on the power play, and #10 in goals allowed. The Sharks are 35-17 when playing on two or more days of rest, plus 20-7 against a team with a winning record. The Blues have averaged more than 11 minutes in penalties a game in these playoffs while the Sharks have averaged the fewest penalty minutes of any of the 16 playoff teams. San Jose has a strong defense and veteran stars Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The Sharks are on a 10-4 run on the road, plus 10-3 away against a team with a winning home record. San Jose has outscored opponents 41-28 in the playoffs, and over the last 16 games they've lost only once by more than one goal. The value is for the visitors to win the game or lose by one goal in a close, defensive duel. Take both San Jose on the puckline and the UNDER.