Detroit Red Wings battle it out against San Jose Sharks (9:00 pm ET, Versus) on Thursday at HP Pavilion, San Jose, California. It is the first game of the seven series and both the teams would want to prove a point in their first game.

Wings bagged a brilliant 6-1 victory against the Phoenix. The Wings need to repeat the same against the Sharks. Sharks have done pretty well against Colorado recently.

“They play a similar style to us,” Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg said. “We’ve been facing them a lot in the last few years in the playoffs. It’s usually a really good series. It’s well-played hockey and it’s exciting for the fans.”

For the Wings, Zetterberg is the key. He has scored 6 goals and 11 points in the seven games. Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Brian Rafalski and Johan Franzen are some of the players Sharks have to watch out for.

Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov of San Jose has been impressive. He made the team win against the Colorado by allowing just a pair of goals. Joe Pavelski with five goals has been impressive for Sharks.
Sportsbooks and other NHL betting odds have set the line at San Jose -135 TOTAL: 5.5 WIN-LOSS-OTL Detroit Red Wings 48-27-14 San Jose Sharks 55-22-11.

San Jose Sharks duel it out in the 6^th game against Colorado Avalanche (10:00pm ET, CBC) on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado. Sharks lead the series by 3-2.

Games 1 and 3 have bounced against the Sharks. They have regained composure, turning in a dominant 5-0 emphatic win in Game 5. They are up as a potential Game 6 clincher, thereby having a great chance to seal the series.

The key players for Sharks have to be Ryane Clowe and Devin Setoguchi, scoring 6 of the Shark’s 14 goals so far. Sharks have outshot Avalanche 211-131 over the five games. Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov has faced fewer shots, overall.

Avalanche kept it tight for sharks for the first 4 games but fifth one was a disaster. Goalie, Craig Anderson was not at his best.

In Game 5, Colorado got away from their trademark style of aggression which finally led into a catastrophe. It is a must win game for the Avalanche. Milan Heiduk will be missed for sure because of an upper-body injury. Even Peter Muller is doubtful.

Odds makers have made the Sharks –180 for Saturday’s game against the Avalanche. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 62% of more than 363 bets for this game have been placed on the Sharks -180.

The New Jersey Devils visit the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, one of 12 games on tap as the NHL returns from its Winter Olympic break (10:30 pm ET, VERSUS, CSN).

San Jose is a -150 favorite and the over/under is 5.5 in NHL Betting at Sportsbook.com.

New Jersey is 7-3 in the past 10 meetings. The Devils have had tremendous success against the Sharks when facing them in San Jose, going 6-1 in the past seven visits.

This is the first meeting of the season. The Devils out-gunned the Sharks 6-5 in their last meeting on Feb. 15 last season. The Devils had been +105 home underdogs, and the score easily cleared the over/under total of 5.5.

New Jersey’s last game was a 5-2 loss on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 13. The Devils had been -130 road favorites.

San Jose’s last game was also Feb. 13, a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo.

Prior to the Olympic break, New Jersey had been struggling, going 1-4 SU in its last five games. And the Devils have really had trouble on the road recently, going winless (0-5) in their past five.

San Jose is 5-2 SU in its last seven games at home.

New Jersey is 37-21-3 this season and San Jose is 40-13-9.

Pacific-division rivals Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks meet for the fourth time this season Monday at HP Pavilion, with the Sharks shooting for their ninth-straight win (10:30 pm ET, NHLN-CA, FS-W, CSN-CA).  

San Jose is a -220 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 5.5 in Hockey Betting at Sportingbet.

Los Angeles is 2-1 in the three meetings so far this season, but San Jose is 9-4 in the past 13 meetings. As well, San Jose is 5-1 in the past six meetings at home.

The teams last squared off Dec. 9 this season, when the Kings won 5-4 as road underdogs.

In the Kings’ last game, Michal Handzus scored a shorthanded third period goal to lift Los Angeles to a 2-1 victory over the Capitals on Saturday, as +105 underdogs. The score went under the over/under total of 6.

Ryan Smyth scored the other goal on the power play, and Jonathan Quick made 26 saves in preserving the win.

The Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 at HP Pavilion on Saturday night. San Jose won as a -270 home favorite and the score went under the 5.5-goal total.

Los Angeles (24-15-3) has won two straight games. San Jose (27-8-7) has won eight straight games.

The total has gone under in five of Los Angeles’s last six games on the road, and in eight of Los Angeles’s last 10 overall.

However, the total has gone over in four of the past six meetings between the Kings and Sharks.

A busy NHL slate Wednesday is capped by a showdown between the top two teams in the NHL’s Western Conference as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the San Jose Sharks (10:30 pm ET, CSN).

The Sharks are a -135 favorite and the over/under is 5.5 in NHL Betting at Sportsbook.com.

The red-hot Blackhawks (15-5-2) have won seven straight while San Jose (16-5-4) has won their past two.

San Jose is 7-1-0-2 in the past 10 meetings. The teams last met less than two weeks ago, when the Blackhawks edged the Sharks 4-3 as -120 home favorites on Nov. 15.

The score went over the total of 6.

In their last game, the Blackhawks shut out the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 as a +115 underdog on Sunday. As you may have guessed, the score went under the over/under total of 5.5.

Chicago backup Antti Niemi stopped all 30 shots he faced to earn the shutout for Chicago, while Bryan Bickell scored the lone goal in the win.

Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton each had a goal and an assist to help the Sharks defeat Pacific division rival Anaheim Ducks 3-2. The Sharks won the game as -125 favorites and the score slipped under the 5.5-point total.

Ryane Clowe added his fourth of the season in the win for the Sharks, while Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves.

Two teams that are considered among the best in the NHL but have stumbled out of the gate clash Thursday when the San Jose Sharks kick off a six-game road in Washington against the Capitals.

The Capitals are a -120 favorite and the over/under total is 6 at Sportingbet.

To say San Jose has dominated the past 10 meetings would be an understatement: The Sharks are 10-0. The total has gone under in four of the past six meetings.

The teams last met on Nov. 22 last season, when San Jose bombed the Capitals 7-2 as a -200 home favorite.

San Jose is 5-0 SU in the past five meetings in Washington.

The last time San Jose was in Washington was Feb. 21, 2009, when they edged the Capitals 3-2.

In the Sharks’ last game Monday, goaltie Evgeni Nabokov made 30 saves in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. Phoenix cashed as +190 road underdogs and the score went way, way under the 5.5-goal total.

Mike Knuble had a goal and an assist for Washington in its 3-2 shootout loss to New Jersey on Monday night. New Jersey won as +155 road underdogs while the scored slipped under the 6-goal total.

Washington (2-2-2) has lost four straight. San Jose is 3-2-1 this season.