The San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals meet Wednesday in NHL action at the Capital One Arena. The San Jose Sharks need a win after losing four of their last five games. The Washington Capitals need a win after losing seven of their last 10 games.

The San Jose Sharks are averaging 2.7 goals per game and are scoring on 17.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Tomas Hertl leads San Jose with 21 goals, Timo Meier has 25 assists and Brent Burns has 111 shots on goal. Defensively, the San Jose Sharks are allowing 3.1 goals per game and are killing 82.9 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Adin Hill has allowed 61 goals on 619 shots faced, and James Reimer has allowed 55 goals on 637 shots.

The Washington Capitals are averaging 3.3 goals per game and are scoring on 14.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Alex Ovechkin leads Washington with 29 goals, Evgeny Kuznetsov has 28 assists and John Carlson has 96 shots on goal. Defensively, the Washington Capitals are allowing 2.7 goals per game and are killing 80 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Vitek Vanecek has given up 51 goals on 579 shots faced, and IIya Samsonov has allowed 55 goals on 566 shots.

The Sharks are 2-5 in their last 7 road games and 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The Capitals are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. Pacific and 3-7 in their last 10 overall. The under is 6-2 in Sharks last 8 overall. The over is 12-4 in Capitals last 16 home games. The Sharks are 12-3 in the last 15 meetings in Washington and 0-4 in the last 4 meetings.

The San Jose Sharks haven’t won a game in the underdog role in forever, and this isn’t the easiest spot to change that. The Washington Capitals aren’t playing well lately, but they’re too talented to continue piling up the losses, and they usually take care of business in the favorite role. I expect the Caps to bounce back on their home ice. I’ll lay the PL to shave down the juice.