Boston vs San Jose Prediction 20 January 2025

🔊 Will the “Bears” slip up at home? Boston, after a frankly weak start to the new calendar year, is gradually getting back on track and has not lost in regulation time for three consecutive matches. Thanks to this, the club has remained in the playoff eight of the East, but its position cannot be called stable. San Jose, on the other hand, has traditionally settled at the bottom of the Western standings and does not seem to be planning on moving up. No such tasks are set before the team.

📊 Head-to-head

Last season, the opponents met twice, and the “Bears” emerged victorious in both cases without much effort (3:1, 3:0). The players from Massachusetts immediately took the initiative and maintained control of the game until the final buzzer. The most productive player in those encounters was Boston forward David Pastrnak. The Czech recorded a goal and three assists, making a decisive contribution to his team's success.

🐻 Boston

Joe Sacco's team exacerbated their tournament situation by failing at the start of the new calendar year. However, after six consecutive losses, the “Bears” found the strength to stop this negative trend and turned things around by winning two consecutive games. The last game was a real goal shootout in Canada's capital. Local Ottawa decided to go all out and pressed the current hosts of the ice, but even in such circumstances, the club managed to reach a shootout series, showing character. Boston has fallen out of the playoff eight of the East but is not far from the playoff zone and is quite capable of returning in the coming weeks.

🦈 San Jose

The “Sharks” have long and firmly established themselves at the bottom of the Western standings and will soon lose even mathematical chances of making it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. In their last six matches, Ryan Warsofsky's team has secured only one victory - over Detroit (6:3). This local success did not affect the overall extremely negative trend. However, it should be noted that no one in California is despairing because making it to the playoffs was never a goal. The lower the club finishes, the higher they will draft.

📌 Projected Lineups

Boston: Swayman - Peeke, Zadorov - Pastrnak, Zacha, Geekie,

San Jose: Georgiev - Walman, Ceci - Graf, Granlund, Zetterlund

🥅 Goalkeepers

Boston's goalie Jeremy Swayman has recently started resembling his best version and is beginning to justify the trust of Boston's management, who handed him a massive contract. In four of his last five matches, the American maintained a save percentage of 90% and secured two wins. Even against Edmonton's star-studded offense, he delivered an excellent performance, saving 35 out of 39 shots on his goal.

San Jose's goalie Alexander Georgiev, without feeling the pressure for results with his new team, has started playing much more effectively. In his last five matches, he managed to maintain a 90% save percentage three times. For such an admittedly weak defense, this is an excellent result. It's not the Russian's fault that his teammates repeatedly fail to capitalize on the chances he provides them.

📝 Editorial Prediction

We tend to believe that fans in the stands will witness a battle of goalies. Both goaltenders have been playing at a high level recently and are giving their teammates plenty of opportunities. However, their teammates repeatedly fail to capitalize on them sufficiently. Therefore, we expect a match not rich in goals, which will end with a victory for Boston in regulation time. The “Bears” need points, and where else to collect them if not in a game against one of the worst teams in the championship? In the last 8 head-to-head meetings between these opponents, the “Sharks” were defeated within 60 minutes.