San Jose Sharks vs. Dallas Stars Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/16/2022

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

Where to watch: Bally Sports Southwest X, NBC Sports California

DraftKings: Stars -205, Sharks +170

BetMGM: Stars -200, Sharks +165

Caesars: Stars -200, Sharks +170

Sharks: 29-33-11

Stars: 42-27-5

It might not be pretty at this point, but the Dallas Stars are getting points. Given this time of year, that might be all that matters in the end for Dallas as it tries to get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stars have reeled off points in three straight games and will try to keep their own pace going when they face the reeling San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center. A win and a loss by the Nashville Predators to the Chicago Blackhawks would leap the Stars over Nashville for the first wild card in the Western Conference.

Dallas is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at home to the Minnesota Wild, an effort that if not for Jason Robertson, they could’ve easily lost out on two points. Robertson, the fantastic sophomore, scored twice to give him 36 goals and 70 points on the season in what’s been a tremendous campaign.

"We outplayed them all three periods, we just didn't put enough pucks behind them," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "We had goal posts, we had open nets, we didn't get the puck in. That's hockey. I'm very happy with the way we played. We just beat Tampa (1-0 on Tuesday), we just tied Minnesota and we lost in overtime, two of the best teams in the league. We keep playing like that, things are going to be OK."

Considering things looked upside down a bit when they lost to the New Jersey Devils last weekend, but those three games with points certainly helped things for Dallas. The Vegas Golden Knights are trailing the Stars by two points – as well as the Predators – and the Stars need a win to keep pace in this tight race.

It might just help the fact that the Sharks are coming in losers of eight in a row after losing 5-4 in a shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks also on Thursday. The Sharks are just bad and there’s no other way around it.

Timo Meier had a goal and an assist to help lead the Sharks, who now have nothing left to play for in life because they are eliminated from playoff contention.

"Guys playing hard and being in the fight until middle of the season, I think we ran into about a month-and-a-half where we had seven, eight, nine veterans out of the lineup," San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. "If you're behind the race after Christmas, you guys (the media) know this, it's not a good sign statistically. We just couldn't stay healthy. When we did, we battled, we played hard, we were in a lot of games."

There’s really nothing left to think of with this game. The Sharks are just going to coast for the rest of the season, or they’re going to play spoiler. I can’t see San Jose wanting to play spoiler, especially if it involves the Golden Knights getting into the playoffs. Circle back when they face Vegas next Sunday.

There’s no reason and no trend great enough to think the Sharks should win this game. They’re completely outmatched by the Stars and if they fail to score more than one goal against this god-awful San Jose team, then Dallas should be eliminated from contention for the playoffs. Dallas in a comfortable fashion. Stars win 4-0

Sharks are 33-58 the past three seasons after an over from the previous game.

Sharks are 7-16 the past three seasons off a road loss by one goal.

The under is 27-13 when the Stars have an under from the previous game.

Sharks:

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Sasha Chmelevski

Alexander Barabanov -- Tomas Hertl -- Noah Gregor

Rudolfs Balcers -- Nick Bonino -- Matt Nieto

Scott Reedy -- Jeffrey Viel

Jaycob Megna -- Brent Burns

Mario Ferraro -- Erik Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Nicolas Meloche

Radim Simek

James Reimer

Stars:

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Denis Gurianov

Michael Raffl -- Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening

Marian Studenic -- Jacob Peterson -- Alexander Radulov

Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen

Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg

Joel Hanley -- Jani Hakanpaa

Scott Wedgewood

Statistical leaders

Points: Timo Meier -- 72

Goals: Timo Meier -- 32

Assists: Timo Meier -- 40

Goalie: James Reimer -- 18-16-8, 2.79 GAA, .914 SV%

Points: Joe Pavelski -- 74

Goals: Jason Robertson -- 36

Assists: Joe Pavelski -- 47

Goalie: Jake Oettinger -- 26-13-1, 2.53 GAA, .914 SV%