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Free NHL Pick: Devils vs. Sharks Betting Lines & Preview

Devils vs Sharks Pick

NHL Betting action sees the New Jersey Devils taking on the San Jose Sharks on Monday January 19th at SAP Center. Cappers Picks provides free NHL handicapping tips all season long.

Those pesky Devils from Jersey travel to the Left Coast on Monday to wade into the Shark Tank in San Jose.

NHL Predictions

New Jersey vs San Jose
Date/Time: Monday, Jan. 19 2015, 10:30 pm EST
Venue: SAP Center, San Jose CA
Broadcast: RSN
New Jersey, San Jose (no odds yet listed)
***2015 BONUSES***
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The problem with New Jersey this season is it has been more punchless than pesky. With the absence of leading points-getter (and Fountain of Youth drinker) Jaromir Jagr, New Jersey’s attack should be even more impotent.

San Jose is not without fault, as it has stumbled through a mistake-laden home stretch. Still, you have to believe the Sharks are more potent than the coached-by-committee Devils this season (all due respect to Scott Stevens).

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The Sharks (24-16-6, good for 54 points and second in the Pacific division) have plenty of dangerous weapons even if they’ve been inconsistent to date. Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton comprise what is a playoff-experienced, veteran unit.

New Jersey, meanwhile, has only 40 points on the campaign (16-22-8) and are above only the bottom-feeding Carolina Hurricanes in the Metro division. The ageless Jagr (42) has been a revelation, registering 25 points to lead the team; the fact that a man who is twice the age of some of the players is still leading the Devils in scoring is a more worrying trend.

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Jersey has a strong power play (ranked ninth in the NHL) but every other aspect of the team – five-on-five and on the penalty kill – is pretty useless. Goaltender Cory Schneider is good, but he is overused and sees way too much rubber when he is between the pipes.

The Sharks are a strong club and can still contend in the Western Conference, but they need to figure it out and gain consistency. San Jose also has a dangerous PP with all those scorers, but the Sharks don’t score enough at even strength and don’t keep the puck out of their net frequently.

Thanks to some turbulence from the Vancouver Canucks and a so far underwhelming season from the defending champion L.A. Kings (we’ve seen this before, however), the Sharks sit second in their division.

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That doesn’t negate the need for them to get their act together in Silicon Valley. This is a franchise with high expectations after several playoff-bound years. Scraping in and a first-round exit (there’s been plenty of those over the years) will not be tolerated.

Hence, the Devils represent the kind of low-hanging fruit that San Jose must bag, if it wants to be satisfied with its point total at the end of the regular season.

After a disappointing OT loss to the Calgary Flames in its last game, I look for the Sharks to come out hungry and take a chomp out of those punchless Devils.

4* Free Play: San Jose 4, New Jersey 2

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By James Hayes

James has been naming every player on the EA Sports video game rosters for half a decade now, he’s finally putting his knowledge to better use writing for us here at CappersPicks.com. Your comments are welcome below…Give Us Your Take!