Pittsburgh needed a sixth skater for both goals in Anaheim. San Jose tied its game against the Islanders twice by getting pucks to the net, including one that Ivar Stenberg tipped past Ilya Sorokin. If Wednesday’s game stays at five-on-five for long stretches, that’s a play the Sharks can look for again. The Penguins have a chance to put San Jose on its heels if they can create those looks before they’re chasing the score.
How San Jose can keep it close
Early in the second period of Pittsburgh’s 5–2 loss in Anaheim, the Penguins had nearly four and a half straight minutes of power-play time without scoring. Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell got their six-on-four goals in the third after the Ducks went up 4–0. Pittsburgh had scored five against Los Angeles the night before, so there’s room for a much better offensive night if the Penguins can finish chances while the game is close.
The DraftKings snapshot had Pittsburgh favored at −135 on the moneyline. Yaroslav Askarov showed how San Jose could keep that game close if he starts. He stopped 30 of 32 shots in Monday’s 3–2 shootout win. Tyler Toffoli helped erase both deficits, first with the shot Stenberg tipped and then with one that went in off a defender. When the goalie keeps the gap to one, a puck through traffic can be enough to pull even.
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Who supplies the goals at 6.5?
DraftKings listed the total at 6.5. In the last three Pittsburgh games, the teams combined for seven, seven and eight goals, with the Penguins scoring only twice in two of them. San Jose scored two or fewer in four of its five losses before the Islanders game, then scored twice before the shootout. An early Pittsburgh power-play goal would change what San Jose has to do. If the Sharks are still within a goal late, they can keep looking for tips and rebounds without having to open up the game.
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