Sharks vs. Canucks preview: Home-and-home with Vancouver could salvage season
On the second half of a back-to-back, the Sharks take on Vancouver.
Given their dreadful February record, it was already getting down to last-chance time as far as the playoffs were concerned heading into last night's Sharks victory over Montreal. Now, San Jose has a golden opportunity to work their way back into a legitimate shot at the postseason with games against the Canucks tonight in Vancouver and Saturday in the Bay Area. Winning both in regulation would bring them four points closer to the Canucks, one of the two teams they're chasing for the divisional playoff spot that looks like a much more realistic target than a wild card berth given how bad the Pacific has been this year.
Tale Of The Tape
 | @ |  |
| 31-25-8, 70 points | Record | 36-23-3, 75 points |
| 5th in Pacific | Rank | 2nd in Pacific |
| 50.6% | Score-Adj. Fenwick | 50.3% |
| 99.2 | PDO | 99.6 |
| 21.6 | PP% | 18.1 |
| 79.5 | PK% | 85.8 |
7PM PST | Rogers Arena | Vancouver, British Columbia
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Canucks Army, Nucks Misconduct, Pass It To Bulis
Projected Sharks Lineup
Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Melker Karlsson
Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto
Tomas Hertl - Ben Smith - Tommy Wingels
John Scott - Chris Tierney - Barclay Goodrow
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
Matt Irwin - Brent Burns
Mirco Mueller - Brenden Dillon
Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock
Projected Canucks Lineup
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Zack Kassian
Chris Higgins - Nick Bonino - Radim Vrbata
Derek Dorsett - Shawn Matthias - Linden Vey
Ronalds Kenins - Bo Horvat - Jannik Hansen
Dan Hamhuis - Yannick Weber
Luca Sbisa - Alex Biega
Ryan Stanton - Adam Clendening
Jacob Markstrom
Eddie Lack
Last Meeting
Chris Tierney scored his first NHL goal and added an assist as a rookie-laden Sharks lineup dominated the Canucks in a 5-1 blowout in Vancouver.
Storylines
- With Ryan Miller injured, Jacob Markstrom is expected to make his first NHL start of the season for the Canucks. Sporting a .932 SV% in Utica this season, the Canucks' third-stringer could be one of those 25-year-old goalies the Sharks will be in the market for this summer.
- Vancouver largely stood pat at the deadline, with their only real move a swap of a 2nd round pick for Calgary prospect Sven Baertschi, currently playing in the AHL so there won't be any new faces in the Canucks lineup for their first post-deadline contest./