San Jose Sharks Try to Reclaim Rhythm Against the Canucks
After surrendering the division and home ice advantage on their own ice the San Jose Sharks head to Western Canada to face-off against the Vancouver Canucks.
The San Jose Sharks are staring down the final 3 games of one the most sensationalized seasons in franchise history. They start their final road trip of this year looking to generate momentum against the Vancouver Canucks.
Tonight will be the San Jose Sharks 3rd straight divisional foe in four nights. After looking flat-footed against the Calgary Flames expect Team Teal to regain traction against a lowly Canucks squad excited for the off-season to start.
The Canucks are in a rough stretch of games with the 4 final games of their season scheduled against teams in playoff position, however this young squad wouldn’t mind gaining some momentum heading into next season.
Playing the role of spoiler for the Canucks is Alexander Edler. He’s put together an impressive ending of his season scoring 9 of his 31 total points in his past 10 games.
Edler’s been driving the bus in Vancouver all year long and he’ll be tasked at driving play tonight against an ornery San Jose Sharks squad. Team Teal will also have their hands full with the young stars Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes. It’ll be a good test for the Sharks defense to keep these budding phenoms in check.
All signs point to Joe Pavelski making his return tonight for the San Jose Sharks after a 7 game hiatus. His absence on the ice and on the bench was extremely noticeable with the Sharks lacking focus and intensity at pivotal moments of important games.
A player that hasn’t faded into the background during the Captains absence is forward Kevin Labanc. He’s scored 6 points, with 18 shots on goal. His deceptive right handed shot has filled the void left by Pavelski at 5v5 and on special teams.
There’s a couple of noticeably missing players on tonight’s line-up card. Joonas Donskoi gets scratched again as his cold streak continues. Also Joakim Ryan earned a spot in the press box with Jacob Middleton getting the chance to play on the left side of Burns.
The San Jose Sharks are trending in the right direction with key players slowly but surly making their returns to the line-up. Almost at full strength here’s what to expect from Team Teal and the Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena.
San Jose Sharks
Forward Combinations
Timo Meier ~ Logan Couture ~ Joe Pavelski
Evander Kane ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Gustav Nyquist
Marcus Sorensen~ Joe Thornton ~ Kevin Labanc
Micheal Haley ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Melker Karlsson
Defensive Pairings
Jacob Middleton ~ Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic ~ Tim Heed
Brendan Dillon ~ Justin Braun
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Martin Jones
Backup ~ Aaron Dell
Vancouver Canucks
Forward Combinations
Tanner Pearson ~ Bo Horvat ~ Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi ~ Elias Pettersson ~ Brock Boeser
Ryan Spooner ~ Adam Gaudette ~ Josh Leivo
Tim Schaller ~ Jay Beagle ~ Markus Granlund
Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler ~ Alex Biega
Ben Hutton ~ Troy Stecher
Quinn Hughes ~ Luke Schenn
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Thatcher Demko
Backup ~ Jacob Markstrom
Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7:00 PM PT live at Rogers Arena. The game will be televised on NBC Sports California while the audio is streamed via the San Jose Sharks official app courtesy of 98.5 KFOX.
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