Boston Bruins Travel to San Jose on Saturday to Face the Sharks

The Boston Bruins will travel to the SAP Center at San Jose on Saturday night to take on the San Jose Sharks in a non-conference affair. This will be the second and final regular-season game between these franchises as Boston picked up a 4-3 home win back in late October.

The Bruins are fourth in the Atlantic Division (29-17-4, 62 points), while the Sharks are sitting in seventh place in the Pacific Division (22-22-5, 49 points) this season.   

With the suspension of left winger Brad Marchand for the Bruins, right winger David Pastrnak and goalie Linus Ullmark should lead the way while the Sharks have right winger Timo Meier and James Reimer need to step up here. 

Bruins Step Up

The Boston Bruins have not been a huge offensive threat as they are scoring 2.88 goals on 35.2 shots per game so far this year. Without Marchand available for this game, right winger David Pastrnak has been leading the offensive output for Boston with 49 points (27 goals, 22 assists).

He is tied for 11th in goals this season but has scored a single goal in the previous five games. Boston is tied for seventh with 25 percent of goals on their power play attempts. 

Linus Ullmark has been struggling a bit this season as the goaltender for the Boston Bruins as he is 16-8-1 with 2.79 goals and a .909 save percentage this season.

The defense is allowing 2.78 goals on 29.4 shots thus far this season as well. Boston is 11th in the sport, killing 82.1 percent of all penalties against them.

Blood in the Water for San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks have been struggling a bit on the offensive side of the ice as they are scoring 2.65 goals on 35.2 shots per game this year.

They have been depending on the production from right winger Timo Meier as he has scored 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) as well as having a +/- of 10 while on the ice. In the three games after the All-Star break, Meier has recorded three points. 

Goaltender James Reimer has been struggling a bit inside of the net for San Jose as he is currently 13-11-4 with 2.91 goals and a .913 save percentage this season.

The Sharks have been struggling a bit defensively as they are giving up 3.12 goals on 29.7 shots per game this season. They have not had any issues killing penalties as they are fourth in hockey with an 84.9 penalty kill percentage.

Who Should We Bet, Bruins or Sharks?

Boston is a brutal 18-31 ATS this season, while San Jose is a respectable 24-25 ATS so far. The Bruins are third in the sport with a 53.9 faceoff win percentage, so I would go with Boston on the moneyline but the Sharks on the puck line.

Also, both offenses have been putrid in their previous five games as Boston is averaging 1.4 goals while San Jose is scoring just 1.6 goals per game so go with the under to hit here.

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* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.