Sharks at Canucks
The San Jose Sharks attempt to draw even in the season series when they visit the Pacific Division-rival Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. San Jose dropped the first two contests of the five-game set - both at home - before posting a 5-1 victory in Vancouver on Feb. 5. The Sharks halted an eight-game skid (0-6-2) at SAP Center on Monday, posting a 4-0 triumph over Montreal as newcomer Ben Smith and Joe Pavelski each recorded a goal and an assist while Alex Stalock registered his second shutout of the campaign.
The Canucks are coming off a 6-5 shootout win over visiting St. Louis on Sunday in which they squandered a three-goal lead over the final 11:42 of the third period. Vancouver fell behind 2-0 six minutes into the contest before defenseman Yannick Weber scored and set up a tally during a five-goal barrage by the home team. The Canucks reside in second place in the Pacific, five points ahead of a trio of clubs that includes the Sharks.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN California (San Jose), RSN Pacific (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (31-25-8): One day after shipping James Sheppard to the New York Rangers, San Jose parted ways with four other players on Monday - losing Tye McGinn to Arizona via waivers while trading Tyler Kennedy to the New York Islanders, Andrew Desjardins to Chicago and Freddie Hamilton to Colorado. In return, the Sharks obtained a pair of draft picks as well as defenseman Karl Stollery from the Avalanche and Smith from the Blackhawks. The 26-year-old Smith collected five goals and four assists in 61 games with Chicago before recording his third two-point performance of the season in his San Jose debut on Monday.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (36-23-3): Vancouver made a pair of deals before the trade deadline, acquiring Sven Baertschi from Calgary for a second-round pick in this year's draft and Cory Conacher from the Islanders for Dustin Jeffrey. The 22-year-old Baertschi, who was drafted 13th overall in 2011, has notched eight goals and 20 assists in 66 games over parts of four seasons with the Flames. Conacher, 25, joins his fifth team in three campaigns after registering 19 tallies and 39 assists in 141 contests with Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Buffalo and the Isles. Captain Henrik Sedin has collected four goals and seven assists during his seven-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. Sharks C Joe Thornton notched his 893rd career assist Monday, climbing within one of Phil Housley for 19th place on the all-time list.
2. Vancouver assigned Ds Frank Corrado and Alex Biega to Utica of the American Hockey League.
3. San Jose D Brent Burns moved within one point of matching his career high of 48 set last season with an assist against Montreal.