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Posted on Saturday April 28 before Game 2

8:00 PM EST. As if it wasn't difficult enough to back San Jose after a 7-0 Game 1 drubbing in Vegas, the Sharks will be without their leading playoff goal scorer in Evander Kane after he was suspended for a cross-check on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The Sharks were flat to start Game 1 and were put in a hole early, which makes that crooked number look much worse than it really was. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said it best though, "You don't get extra points for winning by a touchdown." What you will get however is an overreaction from just about everybody on both sides of the window.

Like the Predators last playoffs, the Golden Knights have now become nearly everybody's second favorite team. The atmosphere in Vegas is infectious and it's easy to love a winner. If you're on social media and follow the club, you've likely seen the dozens of "I'm from (blank), but I cheer for Vegas" t-shirts, but as the Golden Knights' fandom level continues to rise so too does their stock. That Vegas scored more goals in one night than it did in four games against the Kings has been a fun talking point, but all the added hype only inflates the price you are going to have to pay to back Vegas. To make our case, the Knights opened at -138 at Pinnacle for Game 1. For Game 2 that number jumped to -178. Kane's absence alone does not make up the difference.

Once again, we’ll stress that we’re not in the prediction business. If we were, we’d be betting the Knights like just about every other person today. We saw what you saw inside raucous T-Mobile Arena, where the bass from the pre-game music vibrates through your body and the fans take over from there to make it a 60-minute party in which the Knights dominated from start to finish. It’s hard not to flush that out of your mind but we’re in the value business and understand that hockey is the most luck-driven sport of them all and that the Sharks were extra flat in Game 1. Peter DoBoer coached teams’ don’t lie down; instead they’ll respond to getting embarrassed with a chance at redemption. Everything went wrong for San Jose from a bunch of early goals to taking eight minor penalties before Evander Kane was assessed a major for a cross-check of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare that included a 10-minute misconduct. Let’s not forget that it was San Jose’s first loss in the playoffs. A loss in the postseason is an opportunity to make changes and while the Sharks have a number of healthy scratched players from which to choose, the guess here is DeBoer turns to the exact same 18 skaters and two goalies and challenges them to earn a better result. The price on tonight’s game is without doubt a massive overreaction to one result and one we’re going to try and take advantage of by pressing on the Sharks to win the series at a much larger number. If San Jose wins today, we'll be in good shape with two games in Northern California on deck. If they don't, we'll still be alive and if the Sharks take care of business at home, we'll be looking decent headed to Game 5 with a possible hedge opportunity. It’s all about value and the Sharks are more than capable of answering the bell.

Please note: We have leans posted daily on Twitter and you can follow us there for leans, possible late plays or any other info we might have to pass along. 

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