Sharks beat Flyers to burn bettors with 1st win of season
It took almost an entire month, but the San Jose Sharks finally earned their first win of the 2023 season, beating the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday to improve to 1-10-1.
The win snapped a 17-game losing streak dating back to last season.
San Jose had +170 moneyline odds at BetMGM but did just enough losing to likely force a large majority of the betting public to fade them against Philadelphia. At DraftKings, the Flyers had the most-bet puck line by ticket number and handle of any of Tuesday’s 10 games.
Once the Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period behind goals by Anthony Duclair and William Eklund, it was clear those bets were in jeopardy. San Jose held on to win 2-1.
In hindsight, bettors probably should have seen this win coming for the Sharks. Or more accurately, they should have seen the loss coming for the Flyers, because if these stats I stumbled across are true, this is kind of their thing.
The only other NHL team to start a season winless through 10-plus games, the 2017-18 Arizona Coyotes, also got their first win over the Flyers. And the only other team with a losing streak of more than 15 games in the salary cap era, the 2021 Buffalo Sabres, snapped their streak against — you guessed it — the Flyers.
I don’t think this is the type of history either team wants to be a part of.
