Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks, NHL forecast
- The pick
- VGK · Lean
- Line
- Not yet
- Projected
- 3–3
- Fair odds
- -142
Your pick
The short version
- No betting line is up yet, so this is our pre-line forecast: the Golden Knights at 59%, from our Elo ratings and what past lines said about each team. It switches to the line once one posts.
- Behind that number: the Golden Knights rate higher (1539 to 1437 Elo) and the Sharks have home ice.
What's at stake
Each team's chance to make the playoffs if it wins this game and if it loses, from 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season.
Golden Knights
Now 95%
95%
with a win
93%
with a loss
This game is worth 2 points of playoff chance to them.
Sharks
Now 8%
10%
with a win
7%
with a loss
This game is worth 3 points of playoff chance to them.
The pick
No line is posted yet, so this is the pre-line forecast: Elo blended with ratings learned from past lines. It switches to the line once one is posted.
Golden Knights 59%
Forecast Elo ratings alone
How often that comes true: NHL favorites the forecast gave 55–60% have won 56.4% of 1,035 graded games.
- Market
- No line yet
- Pre-line forecast
- VGK 59%
- Elo + market-implied
- Elo ratings
- VGK 60%
- Fair odds
- VGK -142
- SJ +142 · the forecast as odds, no margin
- Projected score
- VGK 3.4 – 2.9 SJ
- Margin from the forecast, total from team scoring ratings
How the number is built
Elo inputs in rating points (higher favors that team; 25–28 Elo is about a point of spread in football and basketball), then how the pieces combine.
| Factor | VGK | SJ | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team rating | 1539 | 1437 | Elo entering the game; 1500 is league average |
| Home field | — | +35 | Worth 35 Elo in the NHL |
| Starting goalies | — | — | VGK: Starter not announced · SJ: Starter not announced |
| Elo ratings | VGK +68 Elo | VGK 59.6% | |
| Market-implied ratings | VGK 58.4% | Team strength as past closing lines priced it, same game context | |
| Pre-line forecast | VGK 58.6% | 20% Elo, 80% market-implied (log-odds blend) | |
Tale of the tape
This season coming into the game, regular season, each number with its league rank (the longer the bar, the higher). Home and road: the host's record at home against the visitor's on the road. Overtime and shootout losses count as losses in these records. Opponent Elo: how strong the teams each has played are, 1st the toughest. Shot share is a team's share of the shots on goal in its games. PDO adds shooting and save percentages: far from 100 tends to even out.
| VGK | Stat | SJ |
|---|---|---|
| 12th of 323.4 | Goals scored | 2.530th of 32 |
| 5th of 322.7 | Goals allowed | 3.527th of 32 |
| 6th of 32+0.7 | Margin | −1.029th of 32 |
| 10th of 3252.5% | Shot share | 47.8%25th of 32 |
| 7th of 3290.2% | Save percentage | 89.1%16th of 32 |
| 14th of 325–5 | Last 10 | 3–729th of 32 |
| 6th of 326–4 | Road vs home | 4–523rd of 32 |
| 27th of 321488 | Opponent Elo | 150211th of 32 |
| 5th of 321539 | Elo rating | 143730th of 32 |
Rating history
Each team's Elo over the last two seasons. Hover or drag to compare on any date.
Injury report
Current ESPN report. Elo values show what the model subtracts.
Golden Knights
2 listedNoah Hanifin D
Outout
Parker Wotherspoon D
Injured Reserveir
Sharks
3 listedIgor Chernyshov LW
Injured Reserveir
Quentin Musty LW
Injured ReserveMusty (upper body) was put on non-roster injured reserve Monday, according to Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News.
Kyle Keyser G
Injured ReserveKeyser (upper body) was placed on non-roster injured reserve by the Sharks on Monday, Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News reports.
Recent form
Last five results, and whether the forecast hit.
Against the line
How each team has done against the closing spread and total, coming into this game.
| This season |  VGK |  SJ |
|---|---|---|
| Puck line | 8–11 | 7–12 |
| Last 10 | 4–6 | 3–7 |
| Favorite | 7–10 | 0–3 |
| Underdog | 1–1 | 7–9 |
| Overs–unders | 11–8 | 8–11 |
| Overs–unders, last 10 | 4–6 | 4–6 |
Against each game's closing line. Books set every line knowing these records: across 3,901 past games, the team with the better record against the spread so far that season covered 51.2%, short of the 52.4% a standard −110 bet needs, and over/under streaks held 48.0% of the time. They describe the past.
Head to head
VGK 11–0 SJ in their last 11 meetings; the forecast called 9 of 11.