San Jose Sharks vs. Nashville Predators: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 10/7/2022

NHL Global Series: Season opener of 2022-23 season

Time: 2 p.m. ET

Venue: O2 Arena, Czech Republic

Where to watch: Bally Sports South, NHL Network, NBC Sports California

DraftKings: Predators -195, Sharks +165
FanDuel: Predators -188, Sharks +155

BetMGM: Predators -182, Sharks +150

Caesars: Predators -200, Sharks +170

Hockey season is back, friends. Rejoice in the fact that there will be competitive puck on competitive ice and that we will get back to the shindig that is the NHL. Now if only we could give the wonderful people of Prague a much better matchup than the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators, then maybe things would be a little bit more cheerful. Alas, we are here, the puck is ready to drop, and it’s going to be an interesting season by all accounts.

 

But of course, it’s the NHL Global Series so everything is heightened with what may be a great way to grow the game. So really, it won’t matter who is playing where and whom against because hockey can sometimes be a wonderful sport that brings everyone together under unique circumstances.

 

Let’s start with the Predators, who are the more competitive group out of the two. Nashville is coming off making the playoffs last year, but ended up getting swept in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Nashville was led by an offensive outburst last year highlighted by a record-breaking performance from defenseman Roman Josi. The star blue liner had a career-high 96 points last season but finished second in the Norris Trophy voting behind Cale Makar.

 

But it’s not just Josi, surprisingly, that carries the weight of the scoring. The Predators actually figured out how to score last year with the forward group. Matt Duchene finally had the year many have been waiting from him with 43 goals and 43 assists, followed by 42 goals and 42 assists from Filip Forsberg. The latter signed an 8-year extension to stay with Nashville, a sign that the star believes this group can indeed go far when given the chance.

 

There are some others as well that will aid in this offense. Mikael Granlund and Ryan Johansen both eclipsed 60 points last year, and rookie forward Tanner Jeanot was not far behind with 26 goals. This team, under John Hynes, can indeed score. How much can they do it consistently will be something else to monitor. But this group goes as far as Juuse Saros goes. The Vezina Trophy finalist is coming off the best year of his career going 38-25-3 with a 2.64 GAA. It’s only a matter of time before Yaroslav Askarov comes in and manhandles the net. Saros is on borrowed time and will try to get as much good fortune his way before the Preds try to trade him. We’ve seen weirder things at times.

 

While the Predators are absolutely in the right position to build off that success, the same can’t be said for the Sharks as their downward tank continues. The Sharks traded longtime defenseman Brent Burns to Carolina to signal the beginning of the end, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before the Sharks fully tear everything down. So long as Logan Couture, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson are there, though, they will not do such things.

 

The biggest question for the Sharks is goaltending. They traded Adin Hill to Vegas in the offseason to make a tandem of James Reimer and Kaapo Kahkonen. That’s a formidable tandem that is expected to do somewhat good things. But now with David Quinn as the coach, decent play on the blue line should not be expected under any circumstances. Goalies in Quinn’s system usually find a way to falter because the defense is playing too far up and pinching to create plays the other way. You don’t want to do that against a Nashville team that can attack from all angles.

 

 

The two will play again on Saturday with both goalies getting some run, but with Saros going against Reimer on Friday, I like the chances of Nashville to come out strong and run away with this one. Predators win 4-2

Sharks are 53-85 against the spread over the past three seasons.

Sharks are 1-8 in their last nine against Central Division teams.

The over is 8-1 in the Predators' last nine games.

Sharks:

Timo Meier -- Tomas Hertl -- Luke Kunin

Oskar Lindblom -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc

Noah Gregor -- Nick Bonino -- Matt Nieto

Steven Lorentz -- Nico Sturm -- Jonah Gadjovich

Scott Harrington -- Erik Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Mario Ferraro

Radim Simek -- Matt Benning

James Reimer

Predators:

Filip Forsberg -- Mikael Granlund -- Matt Duchene

Nino Niederreiter -- Ryan Johansen -- Kiefer Sherwood

Yakov Trenin -- Colton Sissons -- Tanner Jeannot

Cole Smith -- Cody Glass -- Eeli Tolvanen

Roman Josi -- Alexandre Carrier

Ryan McDonagh -- Mattias Ekholm

Jeremy Lauzon -- Dante Fabbro

Juuse Saros

Points: Timo Meier -- 76

Goals: Timo Meier -- 35

Assists: Timo Meier -- 41

Goalie: James Reimer -- 19-17-10, 2.90 GAA, .911 SV%

Points: Roman Josi -- 96

Goals: Matt Duchene -- 43

Assists: Roman Josi -- 73

Goalie: Juuse Saros -- 38-25-3, 2.64 GAA, .918 SV%