Canucks @ Sharks

SJSTFan   21 December 2017

The Sharks (17-11-4, 4th Pacific) return the favor a week after visiting Vancouver, and host the collapsing Canucks (15-16-4, 6th Pacific) tonight. Our boys were rude house guests in BC on Friday, and showed up to the game 20 minutes late. Still, they clawed back to a 3-3 tie, but fell short in the overtime period thanks to a pretty break away goal from Sam Gagner. The greater loss that night may have been Logan Couture, who left the game after a nasty hit from Alex Burmistrov, has not played since, and is not likely to play tonight.

Vancouver is coming off of a fire wagon loss to the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night. Despite a Thomas Vanek hat trick, the Canucks dropped a 7-5 decision to the Habs, their sixth regulation loss in a span of seven games, as regression rears its ugly head upon the poor doomed team.

The Sharks are freshly returned from a three game road trip through Western Canada, where they earned three of the six available points. While far from ideal, there were glimpses of home everywhere not called Edmonton. The Sharks dropped a listless 5-3 affair to the Oilers, so a bounce back game is well in order.

Aaron Dell is set to start tonight, in what could be the very early rumblings of a goalie controversy in San Jose. Dell has won his last four consecutive starts, allowing four total goals across them, including a dominant shut out of the Ottawa Senators. Dell's last regulation loss was 18 November against the Boston Bruins.

Luckily for the boys in blue, the reigning Norris trophy winner seems to have reclaimed his crown, as Brent Burns has five goals and ten points in his last six games, and Joe Thornton is set to hit yet another milestone: he's one point away from tying Doug Gilmour for 18th all time with 1414.

Sharks Lines

Jannik Hansen -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski

Melker Karlsson -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc

Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Joonas Donskoi

Marcus Sorensen -- Daniel O'Regan -- Mikkel Boedker

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun

Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns

Dylan DeMelo -- Tim Heed

Aaron Dell

Martin Jones

Scratched: Joel Ward

Injured: Logan Couture (concussion), Barclay Goodrow (lower body)

It's apparently Hansen's turn to try to inject some life into San Jose's top line.

Canucks Lines

Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Jake Virtanen

Reid Boucher -- Sam Gagner -- Brock Boeser

Loui Eriksson -- Alexander Burmistrov -- Thomas Vanek

Brendan Gaunce -- Nic Dowd -- Markus Granlund

Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher

Derrick Pouliot -- Erik Gudbranson

Michael Del Zotto -- Alex Biega

Jacob Markstrom

Anders Nilsson

Scratched: Ben Hutton, Nikolay Goldobin

Injured: Christopher Tanev (groin), Sven Baertschi (jaw), Bo Horvat (foot), Brandon Sutter (upper body)

The Canucks have injury problems of their own, as two thirds of their top line, Baertschi and Horvat, are still out for the foreseeable future.

Where to watch

Broadcast: NBCSCA, SNP

Stream: NHL.tv / NHL App

Radio: 98.5 KFOX / NHL App / Sharks App

December 21st, 2017 3:36 PM