Sharks at Canucks
THE STORY: The San Jose Sharks have lost four in a row
and eight of their last 10 to the Vancouver Canucks. With five days to
stew following Wednesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks, the Sharks
will look to exact some revenge when they travel to British Columbia for
Monday's return match. Rogers Arena doesn't bring about positive
memories for Sharks coach Todd McLellan and his team, which dropped all
three playoff matches there in last season's Western Conference finals.
Despite their recent troubles, defenseman Dan Boyle isn't waving the
white flag. "Even though our record is pretty bad against them the last
10 games or so, we play them pretty tough," Boyle said. Vancouver suffered just its fifth loss in 20 games following a clunker
on New Year's Eve. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa extended his points streak to
six games by scoring his team's lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Los
Angeles Kings. As San Jose fans are well aware, Bieksa was the one who
netted the series-clinching tally in double overtime of Game 5 of the
Western Conference finals last spring.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Versus, Rogers Sportsnet Pacific
ABOUT THE SHARKS (19-11-4): G Antti Niemi turned aside
27 shots on Wednesday, but fell for the second time in as many games
this season versus the Canucks. The Stanley Cup-winning netminder is a
paltry 2-5-2 with a 3.19 goals-against average in his career versus
Vancouver. C Logan Couture has scored a goal in his last four contests
and has seven points in as many games. Couture leads the Sharks with 16
goals. D Douglas Murray returned to the ice following a 10-game absence
with a wrist injury.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (24-13-2): Vancouver general manager
Mike Gillis knows what he has in G Cory Schneider (8-5-0, 2.16 GAA).
With that in mind, Gillis told the Vancouver Sun that he is not exactly
champing at the bit to trade the former first-round netminder. "He's not
a guy that I would ever be eager to trade," Gillis said. "But there is
going to come a point where he is going to have higher expectations in
terms of games played, and if we can't deliver that, then something will
have to give at some point in time." Vezina Trophy finalist Roberto
Luongo (16-8-2, 2.50 GAA) has started seven straight games for the
Canucks.
OVERTIME:
1. San Jose has the NHL's third-worst penalty kill with a 75.2 percent
conversion rate. The Sharks will be put to the test by Vancouver, which
boasts the league's best power play (24.2 percent).
2. Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin secured at least one point in all but
three games in December. As a result, Sedin pulled ahead of
Philadelphia's Claude Giroux for the NHL lead with 46 points.