San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings Series Odds
Sharks -150
Red Wings +120

Plenty of respect continues to get heaped on the Detroit Red Wings. The defending back-to-back Western Conference champions are a No. 5 seed here, but just barely an underdog to the top-seeded San Jose Sharks.

This was the same Detroit team that was a -225 favorite without even having home-ice advantage in the first round against Phoenix. This was the same team who was favored at Phoenix in the deciding game seven.

The reason for the respect is two-fold. The Red Wings showed the ability to win on the road as they did in Phoenix not once, not twice, but three times. Couple that with San Jose’s mighty struggles against the Avalanche in the first round and their historic struggles dating back the last five seasons and it is tough to say that a Detroit win could be considered an upset.

The Red Wings are 3-1 against the Sharks in the team’s four meetings this season. Two of the games went to shootouts with both teams winning one of the shootouts. Detroit won two games in regulation at San Jose.

The series is scheduled to start on Thursday on the West Coast. Detroit just wrapped up its grueling back-and-forth series on the West Coast on Tuesday. San Jose has been idle since wrapping up its series at Colorado on Saturday. The Sharks had immense struggles early on against Colorado, trailing the series 1-0 and 2-1. Three of the games reached overtime.

But San Jose ended the series in six games and with an exclamation point. It outscored Colorado 10-2 over the last two games. Excluding the 6-5 overtime win in Game 2, Evgeni Nabokov allowed six goals in five games. After his gaffe in Game 3 that nearly cost San Jose the series, Dan Boyle came on strong for the Sharks as they closed out the series.

Boyle will not be able to do it alone, the Sharks need production from Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau who combined for one goal and -7 plus-minus rating in the Colorado series.

The Red Wings could actually be considered the hotter of the two teams entering this series. They went 10-1-1 to close out the regular season and people are starting to change their tune that instead of Detroit’s age slowing them down, that age and playoff experience is the difference in this series against a San Jose team in foreign territory.

San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings Series Predictions
Detroit in six

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