NHL History & News

The San Jose Sharks will take on the Los Angeles Kings this Thursday. These teams have already had an intense series and they are set to play their 4th game of the best of 7 games series on Thursday.

In online sportsbook, NHL Odds have the Sharks as a -125 favorite and the over/under total at 5.

The Kings are down 2-1 in the series, but they could have easily been up 3-0. The Kings have had control of games 1 and 3, but they have allowed the Sharks to come back and steal the games. The Kings did managed to preserve a shutout in game 2, but they will have a very hard to beating the Sharks after giving them 2 games out of the first 3.

In game 3 the Kings were winning 4-0 and it appeared that they had the game put away. The Sharks came roaring back and scored 5 goals in regulation and the game was tied 5-5 going into overtime. The Sharks put another goal in the net in overtime and made a full comeback from their 4 goal deficit.

The Kings will need to play a near-perfect series after allowing the Sharks to crawl back into contention. The 4th game of the series will be huge for both teams. If they Kings are able to grab another win they might be able to get some more momentum. However, if the Sharks are able to take the game, they will likely win the series without too much of a fight from the Sharks.

The game is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles at 10:30 Eastern time. In free picks the San Jose Sharks are favorites to win this match.

With the NHL getting back into high gear after the All-Star game, NHL fans will be treated to a contents of two of the better teams in the entire league when the San Jose Sharks travel to Boston to take on the Bruins Saturday night.

NHL Odds are not yet available.

Even though San Jose is struggling in the standings right now, the Sharks still figure to be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference come playoff time.

Boston is currently third in the Eastern Conference and leads Montreal by only four points in the standings. Despite a mediocre power play that currently sits at 16th in the league, Boston continues to rely on one of the best goal tending tandems in the league to win games on a nightly basis. The offense is doing pretty well also as the Bruins average 3.0 goals per game.

After making it to the Western Conference finals last year the San Jose Sharks have been a bit of a disappointment so far this season. Struggling to find any consistency on offense and defense has really slowed the down the Sharks in the first half of the season. If San Jose wants to make another deep playoff run they will need to get things going in a hurry, especially since they are tied for 8th place in the West with two other teams.

On June 23, this year’s 2010 NHL Awards will be held in Las Vegas and there are several hotly contested categories. Below are the four most closely watched of the award.

For the Hart Memorial Trophy, this year’s finalists, which is awarded to the player judged most valuable to his team by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, are Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks, and Sidney Crosby from the Pittsburgh Penguins. To the President’s Cup, Ovechkin led his team and he is a two-time defending champion, but there are some who believe that Sedin played on a weaker team and thus was more valuable, overall to his team.

For the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the league’s best goalie as voted on by the NHL clubs’ general managers, are Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes, and Ryan Miller, the goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, are the goalies vying. Miller is a sentimental favorite for his outstanding play for Team USA in this year’s Olympics games, even though, what happened in the Olympics shouldn’t be a factor in the awards.

For the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is given to the best defensemen as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association include Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Mike Green from the Washington Capitals, and the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Duncan Keith, are the nominees.

For the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is given to the best defensemen as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association include Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Mike Green from the Washington Capitals, and the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Duncan Keith, are the nominees. With 76 points, Green had an outstanding year and has the best plus/minus of the three with a plus 39.

For the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, which is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, are Joe Sacco of the Colorado Avalanche, Dave Tippett of the Phoenix Coyotes, and Barry Trotz of the Nashville Predators, are vying for the award. After just plain ugly seasons last year, Both Sacco and Tippett unexpectedly brought their respective teams back into contention.

On June 23rd, the other awards presented include the Frank J. Selke Trophy for outstanding defensive forward. Detroit Red Wings‘ Pavel Datsyuk, Vancouver Canucks’ Ryan Kesler, and Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jordan Staal are included as nominees. Up for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct is Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings, Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars, and Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning, are the nominees. Nominees for the Calder Memorial Trophy for outstanding rookie are Colorado Avalanche’s Matt Duchene, Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings, and Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres. Lastly, for the Masterton Trophy, which is awarded to a player for perseverance and sportsmanship is Tampa Bay Lightning‘s Kurtis Foster, the San Jose Sharks‘ Jed Ortmeyer, and the Washington Capitals’ Jose Theodore, are the nominees for the award.

Sitting at the top of the NHL Western Conference is the San Jose Sharks. It would be a huge advantage for the Sharks as they have been a remarkable 22-6-8 at home and being at home throughout the playoffs. Their road record of 21-10-2 is not as impressive, but it still has been enough to get the job done in the West.

The San Jose Sharks are in danger of losing their number one spot, as they are on a three game skid at this point. With a record of 6-3-1 in their last ten games the Chicago Blackhawks are hot on their tails, as well as Phoenix are showing no signs of slowing down and are currently on a six game win streak.  Phoenix is currently only 5 points behind the Sharks, who currently hold 96 points in the regular season.

As most suspected that they would be at the top of the Western Conference from the beginning, this success comes as no surprise for the Sharks. With the help of the dangerous duo Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, they have met and surpassed expectations.

Thornton dished out an amazing 63 assists on the season and has been an excellent facilitator this year. Patrick Marleau scored 41 goals so far this year (not to mention dishing out 32 assists of his own) and has been the beneficiary of many of these assists.

This team possibly go deep into the playoffs  with their team effort along with the solid goaltending of Evgeni Nabokov( 2.37 goals against average .924 save percentage) and making them favorites to take the conference. San Jose making it to the NHL Championship and securing the Stanley Cup is a very good chance.