Welcome to NHL Game Day Predictions! Each day, Last Word on Hockey will break down every game and give our prediction for who will win. This will also include a featured game that should be must-watch hockey. Today’s featured game is the Calgary Flames vs San Jose Sharks.
NHL Predictions Including Calgary Flames vs San Jose Sharks
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Winnipeg Jets
Head-to-Head: Penguins 0 – 1 Jets
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in deep trouble lately. Injuries to multiple players, including newcomer Alex Galchenyuk and star centre Evgeni Malkin, have left the team’s roster with a tremendous hole in it. Fortunately, strong play from Sidney Crosby helped fill this hole in Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild. He’ll need to keep up this momentum moving into Sunday’s game.
The likelihood of the Penguins staying hot against the Winnipeg Jets doesn’t seem very likely, though. The Jets have done a great job of limiting opposing offences so far this season, despite having a severely broken down defence. In the last three games, Winnipeg has only allowed five goals-against. Their offence, on the other hand, has netted 12 goals in this span. This includes a 4-1 win over the Penguins. With a hot offence and a modest defence, there’s seems to be no arguing for Pittsburgh in this bout. It’ll be a battle of two strong offences, although one is severely lacking thanks to injury.
Prediction: Jets win 4-2.
Vegas Golden Knights vs Los Angeles Kings
Head-to-Head: Vegas 0 – 0 Kings
The Vegas Golden Knights don’t look any different this season. They’ve come out of the gates swinging, winning three of their first five games by at least three games. The only team to beat them so far has been the Boston Bruins. Even this was a hard-fought game, with Boston barely holding on, eventually winning 4-3. The Golden Knights are a clear force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference, with one of the most flushed-out rosters in the league.
They’ll face off against a Los Angeles Kings team that also looks fairly unchanged from last season. While LA has had a few surprising wins, including Saturday’s defiant 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators, they still seem to be in the midst of a rebuild. Their roster is shaky-at-best, with goaltending becoming a very big concern. Over the course of their first four games, LA has allowed a tremendous 21 goals-against. 14 of these goals have come thanks to Jonathan Quick. Quick has struggled immensely to start the season. He is also likely to start against Vegas on Sunday, with Jack Campbell playing against Nashville on Saturday. This could spell doom for the Kings as they face a very potent, well-rounded Golden Knights roster.
Prediction: Knights win 6-3.
Calgary Flames vs San Jose Sharks
Head-to-Head: Flames 0 – 0 Sharks
The Calgary Flames vs San Jose Sharks should be an exciting bout, with the red hot Flames facing off against an ice-cold Sharks team. Calgary won four games straight to start the season, before being brought back to Earth by Vegas on Saturday. Still, they remain one of the best teams in the Western Conference. They seem to be one of the only teams with the ability to challenge Vegas’ throne.
San Jose has been anything but. They’ve lost four of their first five games fairly emphatically. They currently sit at 21 goals-allowed and 10 goals-for in their first five games. Of those 10 goals-for, half came in Thursday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. For a team with high hopes after a heartbreaking end to the 2018-19 season, the cold start to the year has been hard to stomach. Facing off against a Flames team that’s been unstoppable isn’t likely to change San Jose’s fortunes.
Prediction: Calgary wins 3-1.
Main Photo:
