The San Jose Sharks have a two-game road trip through the Pacific Northwest before American Thanksgiving. First stop on the trip is north of the border where the Sharks will meet up with the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks are off to a hot start this season. While the team has lost two in a row, it’s not something that will likely last. Vancouver has started the season with a 12-5-1 record, good enough for second place in the Pacific Division. What’s more, Vancouver comes with fire power. The top three scorers in the league are all Canucks. J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes lead the NHL with 28 points apiece. Meanwhile, Brock Boeser is tied for third in the league with 13 goals.
Not only will the Sharks have to contend with all that scoring, but there’s also Thatcher Demko to consider. The goaltender has a 2.22 goals against average (seventh in the league) and a .926 save percentage (tied for eighth in the league). Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith is also doing well in net. He has a 2.89 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
While Sharks fans would rather forget, the last time these two teams met up, it was the culmination of a dreadful downward spiral to the bottom of the league. San Jose had already lost nine in a row when Vancouver strolled in to SAP Center and scored 10 goals. It was the first of two beatdowns the Sharks would experience in a 48-hour span.
Luckily, or maybe unluckily for the Sharks, the Canucks know to take this game seriously.
“They’re professionals [and] they’ve got good players,” said Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet told NHL.com’s Chris Faber. “I don’t care what anybody says, that kind of game is an anomaly. It happens once in a blue moon, I’ve been in part of those games in the past where we are on the other side you lose eight nothing, things don’t go right. So, yeah, we’re not taking these guys lightly at all, trust me.”
The good news for Sharks fans is the team is in a better place tonight than it was on Nov. 2. The Sharks are coming off the team’s best win of the season, beating the St. Louis Blues 5-1 on Thursday. Tonight marks Kyle Burroughs’ return to Vancouver for the first time since he signed with the Sharks in the summer.
San Jose Sharks lines
San Jose has had some time to rest and heal up before tonight’s game since the last time the team played was Thursday night at SAP Center. That means there will likely be some changes in the lineup. Jacob MacDonald is coming off of IR and will play forward tonight. The Sharks did not recall Daniil Gushchin after sending him back down to the Barracuda over the weekend.
Also of note, Nico Sturm will not be with the team on this road trip. The Sharks announced last week that the center would be taking leave to deal with a family matter.
Here are the lines courtesy of the Daily Faceoff:
Forwards
William Eklund – Tomas Hertl – Fabian Zetterlund
Anthony Ducliar – Mikael Granlund – Filip Zadina
Mike Hoffman – Luke Kunin – Kevin Labanc
Givani Smith – Ryan Carpenter – Jacob MacDonald
Defensemen
Mario Ferraro – Ty Emberson
Calen Addison – Jan Rutta
Nikita Okhotiuk – Kyle Burroughs
Goaltenders
Mackenzie Blackwood
Kaapo Kahkonen
Vancouver Canucks lines
On Vancouver’s side of the ice, there’s no mercy for the Sharks. All of the top scorers will be in the lineup and they’ll be wearing some new helmets, check them out.
Matte is the new black. ⚫️
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 20, 2023
Tonight we debut new helmets to wear with our skate jersey! pic.twitter.com/wjYJAUlVoh
This is what Daily Faceoff says the lines will look like.
Forwards
Ilya Mikheyev – Elias Pettersson – Andrei Kuzmenko
Phil di Giuseppe – J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua – Teddy Blueger – Conor Garland
Nils Hoglander – Sam Lafferty – Anthony Beauvillier
Defensemen
Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Akito Hirose – Tyler Myers
Ian Cole – Mark Friedman
Goaltenders
Thatcher Demko
Casey DeSmith
How to watch the San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks
Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on NBCSCA. Streaming is available with a subscription to ESPN+ (blackout restrictions may apply). The radio call will be streamed through the Sharks Audio Network. Canucks fans can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen on Sportsnet 650.
The game starts at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET at Rogers Arena.
Check back then to follow along with all of the play-by-play action in the comment section below!
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