There might not be two teams in the NHL more statistically similar this season than the Sharks and Canucks. Both clubs are clicking at 50.7% score-adjusted possession, neither team can score at even-strength as they rank 23rd and 22nd, respectively, in 5-on-5 goals per minute and both teams boast fourth lines and third pairings that can be charitably described on most nights as “godawful.” Vancouver has the opportunity to establish a third similarity tonight as they can improve to 61 points on the year, moving into a tie with San Jose in that category and overtaking the Sharks on the ROW tiebreaker. Fresh off a loss to Calgary, the Sharks will try to avoid making it two defeats in a row in Western Canada.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
27-18-7, 61 points	Record	28-18-3, 59 points
3rd in Pacific	Rank	4th in Pacific
50.7%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	50.7%
99.0	PDO	99.2
21.0	PP%	18.0
81.6	PK%	86.3

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 – James Sheppard – Barclay Goodrow
John Scott – Chris Tierney – Tyler Kennedy

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson
Matt Irwin – Scott Hannan

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Canucks Lineup

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Alexandre Burrows
Shawn Matthias – Nick Bonino – Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins – Linden Vey – Jannik Hansen
Ronalds Kenins – Bo Horvat – Derek Dorsett

Alex Edler – Chris Tanev
Dan Hamhuis – Luca Sbisa
Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Ryan Miller
Eddie Lack

Last Meeting

In a game in which the Sharks were awarded two penalty shots, they were only able to cash in on one and ended up dropping a 3-1 decision to the Canucks on home ice, marking their second loss to Vancouver at the Tank this season.

Storylines

• Antti Niemi is unsurprisingly expected to get the start in net after Alex Stalock played yesterday against Calgary. Ryan Miller will likely face him for Vancouver.
• Adam Clendening, acquired last week from the Blackhawks in exchange for prospect Gustav Forsling, will play his third game for the Canucks tonight. /