A Western Conference clash between a pair of struggling teams will meet up on the ice in an attempt to reverse their fortunes as the Edmonton Oilers battle it out with the San Jose Sharks. Let's check out our NHL odds series where our Oilers-Sharks prediction and pick will be made.

Shockingly, the Oilers have gotten off one of the lousier starts to a season in recent memory, as Edmonton's 2-8-1 start has seen this team with the second-lowest point total throughout the entire NHL. Most recently, the Oilers were blown out 6-2 by the Canucks in Vancouver as Edmonton's sluggish play has only raged on with each passing game. Can the Oilers finally figure it out and start heading in the right direction before it's too late?

On the other side of things, circumstances have only somehow been worse in San Jose. Heading into their last matchup, the Sharks were 0-10-1 and had yet to win a game this year. Yes, you read that correctly. However, the Sharks finally were able to put one in the win column with a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Still, this team has a long way to go to become relevant, and this entire process of becoming a winner again will take some time.

Here are the NHL Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NHL Odds: Oilers-Sharks Odds

Edmonton Oilers: -1.5 (-146)

San Jose Sharks: +1.5 (+122)

Over: 6.5 (-142)

Under: 6.5 (+112)

How to Watch Oilers vs. Sharks

Time: 10:30 ET/7:30 PT

TV: ESPN+

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Oilers Will Cover The Spread/Win

Believe it or not, the Oilers enter this contest against the Sharks with only two more points than San Jose this season. Clearly, that's how bad things have been for Edmonton in the first month of the regular season. Remember, this Oilers squad amassed a 50-23-9 record last year but have ultimately looked like an entirely different team only six months later.

While Edmonton continues to try and sort things out, the Oilers have at least found a way to combat the Sharks each time they face off with their conference counterparts from the south. In fact, the Oilers have defeated the Sharks in nine consecutive matchups and simply have had their number over the last couple of seasons. Despite playing like garbage through the team's opening 11 games, Edmonton is keeping their fingers crossed that past history will rear its head ahead of tonight's matchup.

Not to mention, but the biggest facet of the game that the Oilers have to dominate in will be to have more chances on the power-play attack than not. Whenever the Oilers have found themselves with an extra-man opportunity, good things happen. So far, Edmonton boasts the ninth-best power-play percentage in the league with a 25% mark. However, playing sloppy will prove to be the team's downfall as they are dead-last in penalty-killing percentage (68.9%) Oddly enough, this matchup will come down this category alone. On paper, San Jose already has recorded a whopping 142 penalty minutes on the season, and there is no excuse for Edmonton to not utilize this stat to their advantage.

Why The Sharks Will Cover The Spread/Win

With some new-found momentum under their wings for the first time all season, we are only hours away from finding out whether or not San Jose can build off their inaugural win of the season and begin to trend positively moving forward.

In order to find a way to cover the spread and win back-to-back games at their home arena, the top priority that the Sharks need to take advantage of will be to have a repeated showing in between the pipes. Of course, this is still a struggling unit offensively that was able to record only a pair of goals in their win versus the Flyers, but the improvement that was on display from goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was more than evident. Legitimately, Blackwood recorded 38 saves en route to earning the first star of the game and was not going to be slowed down from making spectacular stops all night long. Without a doubt, Blackwood has endured his fair share of struggles this season, but his performance against the Flyers was something that is extremely encouraging to build off of.

Although Blackwood will once again need to put on his best Patrick Roy impersonation, who is going to step up on the offensive end for San Jose? Clearly, this offense has more problems than a boat with holes in it. As a whole, the Sharks' best chance to find the back of the net more often than not will once again be Tomas Hertl who happens to lead the team in total points. If San Jose can get out to a quick start, then they'll end up being in pretty good shape.

Final Oilers-Sharks Prediction & Pick

With an extremely tough matchup coming tomorrow night against the defending Stanley Cup champs in Vegas, the importance of finding a way to down the Oilers will be fresh in the minds of every Sharks player. This is an opportunity that San Jose must capitalize on with the team's morale at an all-time high this season. Expect San Jose to handle their business and treat the home fans with another spread-covering victory!

Final Sharks-Oilers Prediction & Pick: Sharks +1.5 (+122)