Top NHL Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions: Friday, October 7 (Sharks vs. Predators)
The 2022-23 NHL season is finally upon us! To kick off the new campaign, we have an international-series game between the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators at the O2 Arena in Prague.
Below, I give out my best bet for the first game of the year. Follow me on Twitter to get all my plays on days without full write-ups.
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
Check out our consensus odds for 2022-23 Stanley Cup Champion >>
San Jose Sharks (+160) @ Nashville Predators (-196) | O/U 6 (-106/-114)
These two clubs will likely have very different seasons, with the Predators fighting to make the playoffs once again while the Sharks will just take positives whenever possible. I am very bearish on San Jose this season, and I would not be surprised at all if they are sellers at the deadline with the very few valuable pieces they have.
While the Sharks are terrible from top-to-bottom, their offense is a particularly huge concern. Last season, San Jose finished dead-last in GF at 5v5 and 23rd in finishing.
We should not expect much positive regression from this group as they also ranked 27th in xGF at 5v5 while not doing anything in the off-season to address the lack of scoring. Outside of a couple of individuals (Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Logan Couture, and Erik Karlsson), this team is extremely limited in terms of individual offensive talent.
Nashville is a terrible matchup for the Sharks to kick off their season. Last season, the Predators finished 14th in GA and seventh in xGA at 5v5.
An already strong defense, the blue line got even better over the off-season with the addition of Stanley Cup Champion Ryan McDonagh. Backing up this good defense is one of the better goaltenders in hockey, Juuse Saros.
One of the pre-season Vezina Trophy favorites, Saros will look to build upon another strong year that saw his SV% finish at .918. This great goaltending should continue against San Jose, a team he has dominated over the last couple of seasons.
Over his last six starts against the Sharks, Saros is 5-0-1 with a .968 SV% and 0.81 GAA. San Jose scored two or fewer goals in all six of those contests.
Last season, Nashville went 3-0 against the Sharks with a combined score of 12-1.
Best Bet: San Jose Sharks 60-Minute TT Under 2.5 (-122)
Best of luck!
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Tony Sartori is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Tony, check out his archive and follow him @tony_sartori.