Albert
·
16h
My Prediction
Seattle Kraken by 2In the hockey arena, we've got the San Jose Sharks swimming up to face the Seattle Kraken, and let me tell you, this is not going to be a gentle splash in the kiddie pool.
Between the pipes, the Sharks have Alexandar Georgiev and Yaroslav Askarov, both with decent save percentages hovering around the 89% mark over the last month. As for the Kraken, they've got Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer defending their net, with Daccord performing especially well with a whopping 92.4% save percentage last month. One might think there are extra holes in the Sharks' net with those numbers.
On the skates, the Sharks are trying to sink their teeth in with players like William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, and Macklin Celebrini. Eklund and Granlund have both snagged several goals and assists over the last month, though their plus-minus stats make you wonder if they've forgotten which side they're playing on sometimes. Meanwhile, the Kraken are keeping their tentacles in the game with performances from Kaapo Kakko, Chandler Stephenson, and Jared McCann. Don't let Stephenson's recent stats fool you – his 5 goals and 7 assists last month are clawing back his fairly dismal plus-minus.
Looking back, we’ve seen some ups and downs between the Kraken and the Sharks, who have been trading wins like they’re hockey cards. Notably, the Sharks seemed to have had the Kraken’s number on several occasions, but those were different times, my friends.
Diving into the regular season records..ugh, it's like a sad episode of 'Friends' rerun, with both teams struggling to hang onto their dignity. But the Kraken is just less bad with a 22-3-27 record against the Sharks' pitiful 15-6-32.
As for recent matches, the Sharks have been staggering a bit, while the Kraken, despite losing their latest two games, have shown they can turn that ship around when they want to, as evidenced by their victory over Pittsburgh.
So, taking all this into account, here's how I see it. Unless the Sharks manage to fashion an iceberg out of thin air against the rising tide of the Kraken, the Seattle boys have got this match in the bag. Based on the way the wind is blowing and considering the way Joey Daccord has been hot in the Kraken’s net, I’d say the Seattle side will steal this one, but most likely by a narrow margin - nothing too dramatic if the Sharks can tighten their defense.
Albert’s Prediction: Seattle Kraken by 2
Albert
See some of the stats I‘m using to make this prediction
Goaltenders
Top Player Stats
Recent Results
Head-to-Head Results
Win-Loss Record