{"id":543812,"date":"2026-04-06T14:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/543812\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:02:18","slug":"sharks-and-hawks-battle-of-the-2023-and-2024-1st-overall-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/543812\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks and Hawks, Battle of the 2023 and 2024 1st Overall Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to\u00a0NHL Predictions! Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> wrap up their West Coast road trip against the San Jose Sharks<\/a>. Each day, our writers here at Last Word On Hockey analyze the day\u2019s games and provide in-depth analysis. We break down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then make predictions based on how they might play out. Don\u2019t forget to check out more NHL Predictions, as our writers continue this series throughout the 2025-26 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions: Chicago Blackhawks vs San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

Time:\u00a010:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

Season Series:\u00a0Chicago leads 1-0<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/a> TV:\u00a0ESPN+, CHSN, NBCSCA<\/p>\n

Location:\u00a0SAP Center at San Jose, California.<\/p>\n

Connor Bedard<\/a> and the Chicago Blackhawks play their final road game of the season against Macklin Celebrini<\/a> and the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n

The Hawks\u2019 offence exploded in a 6-3 victory in the first matchup between these two teams. Connor Bedard started the scoring with a power-play marker in the first period with assists from Teuvo Teravainen<\/a> and Tyler Bertuzzi<\/a>. In the second period, goals from Connor Murphy<\/a>, Ryan Donato<\/a> and Sam Rinzel<\/a> gave the Hawks a 4-0 lead. Will Smith<\/a> and Ilya Mikheyev<\/a> traded markers less than a minute apart, before Macklin Celebrini closed out the scoring in the second period. Shakir Mukhamadullin<\/a> got the Sharks within two, but Donato netted his second goal of the game to give the Hawks their decisive 6-3 advantage. Neither Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> nor Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a> gave the Sharks an inspired effort in the net, which the club is hoping to fix.<\/p>\n

Credit Image: \u00a9 Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

Blackhawks Close Out Road Season<\/p>\n

The Hawks handed the Kraken<\/a> their fourth-straight loss Saturday night to pick up a good win. Teravainen and Bertuzzi opened the scoring after a scoreless first period. The third period featured four total goals, including Sacha Boisvert<\/a>\u2018s first career goal with helpers from Kevin Korchinski<\/a> and Landon Slaggert<\/a>. Ilya Mikheyev netted the empty-net goal to ice the game. Arvid Soderblom<\/a> thwarted the Sharks\u2019 attack with a 25-save performance. Expect Spencer Knight<\/a> in the crease and for an inspired effort between the pipes.<\/p>\n

With the Blackhawks out of Stanley Cup Playoff contention, now is the time for the coaching staff to evaluate the roster and look ahead to next season. Tonight, it was the overall defensive effort that helped the Hawks earn the win. Even though the Kraken struggle to score goals, the Hawks\u2019 defenders did a nice job stepping into shooting lanes and limiting Seattle\u2019s high-danger chances. Head coach Jeff Blashill switched up the defensive pairs, slotting Wyatt Kaiser<\/a> and Louis Crevier<\/a> together and bringing Sam Rinzel to play with Alex Vlasic<\/a>. Those four in particular looked confident together. Expect similar pairings tonight as the Hawks continue to battle injuries to Artyom Levshunov<\/a> and Matt Grzelcyk<\/a>. As always, be sure to check social media for starting lineups and starting goaltender information.<\/p>\n

Sharks Looking To Keep Pace in Wild Card Race<\/p>\n

The Sharks suffered a massive loss to the Predators on Saturday night. After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, the club battled back to even the score. Goals from Nick Leddy<\/a>, Macklin Celebrini and Alexander Wennberg<\/a> gave the Sharks life on home ice. However, Nashville netted three unanswered in the final 12 minutes to pick up the win. Askarov saw the crease and picked up the loss, continuing a concerning trend of a high number of goals allowed. Expect Nedeljkovic between the pipes tonight to try and get Askarov back on track.<\/p>\n

Before Saturday\u2019s loss, the Sharks had won four straight games to climb back into the playoff mix. In that time, Celebrini has been an absolute superstar. He has ten points in the last five games and single-handedly dragged the Sharks to victory Wednesday night against Anaheim. He plays with Will Smith and Collin Graf<\/a>, who has a surprising 20-goal campaign. However, similar to Chicago, the Sharks struggle to keep the puck out of the net with their young defensive core. Leddy, along with Mario Ferraro<\/a>, has provided some nice veteran play, but the group has to tighten up their play in order to pick up wins.<\/p>\n

Game Prediction<\/p>\n

Expect a high-scoring affair in this one with San Jose\u2019s superstars to step up and pick up the big two points.<\/p>\n

Prediction: San Jose wins 4-2<\/p>\n

Prop Bets<\/p>\n

Tyler Toffoli<\/a> Anytime Goalscorer\u00a0(+300)<\/p>\n

Frank Nazar<\/a> Anytime Goalscorer\u00a0(+300)<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to\u00a0NHL Predictions! Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks wrap up their West Coast road trip against the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,37,96,30639,5263,5,4,35795],"class_list":{"0":"post-543812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicago-blackhawks-predictions","12":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks-predictions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116358135471134214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}