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Matt Skinner here with the Sharks-Blues line for Saturday April 21, 2012, which was coming in at -190 St. Louis at Belmont.com. Be sure to claim your FREE CASH BONUS when you join here today.
San Jose must despise winning their final four games of the regular season to earn themselves the matchup with the one team – St Louis - that owned them this year. The Blues have continued that dominance over the Sharks in the post-season as they hold a 3-1 series lead and head back home attempting to put the finishing touches on the Sharks.
Belmont line and total: St Louis -190 and 5
In seven games against the Blues this year, San Jose has only managed 10 goals for; a number that is astonishing given the scorers they have in their lineup. But the Blues defensive mind-set and stellar goaltending has kept them at bay. However, they have managed to score 3 goals twice in this series, including their Game 1 win in overtime. If they want their season to continue they will need to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net. The likes of Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski have been held pointless so far in this series and that simply can’t happen if the Sharks want to win. With everything on the line in Game 5, these guys should leave it all out on the ice.
The Blues haven’t always needed to be scoring machines against the Sharks but knowing how desperate they will be in this one, they will likely have to pot a few of their own. They are 2-0-3 O/U in their last five against teams that scored 2 or fewer last time out and they are 3-1-1 O/U when playing with only a day’s rest. They have owned the Sharks this year with their defensive play but all the stops will come out in this one with the season on the line. And if they are up late, San Jose will not hesitate to pull the goalie early on in one final desperate attempt.
At + 115 the over 5 goals is worth the risk.
- Matt Skinner, Gambling911.com
