Sharks at Canucks
The San Jose Sharks will continue to get to know the Vancouver Canucks in a short amount of time as the Pacific Division rivals play the second of three contests this week with Thursday's tilt in British Columbia. San Jose began the week with Sunday's 4-1 victory in Vancouver and will host the Canucks on Saturday before having a home-and-home series to end the month.
Captain Joe Pavelski scored a goal and set up another on Sunday before recording two tallies and an assist the following night as the Sharks improved to 7-2-2 in their last 11 contests with a 6-2 win over Montreal. While San Jose is four points out of first place, Vancouver has dropped two in a row and six of eight to reside eight points behind Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. "We know we want to create a culture where it's not good enough to lose, and that's what we're trying to do even though there's been a lot of losing," captain Henrik Sedin said. Twin brother Daniel Sedin scored in the Canucks' loss to the Sharks and again in the 3-2 setback to the New York Islanders on Tuesday, extending his point total to 10 (three goals, seven assists) in his last eight games.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN California (San Jose), Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (34-22-6): Joe Thornton had an assist versus Vancouver before scoring a goal and setting up two others against the Canadiens for his fourth three-point performance of the season. Brent Burns notched his third three-point effort of the campaign against Montreal, with his 21 goals leading all defensemen and his 54 points trailing only Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson among blue liners. Martin Jones, who made 23 saves in the first meeting with the Canucks, is 7-2-1 in his last 10 outings.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (24-26-12): The Sedins joined goaltender Jacob Markstrom in being named to Team Sweden's preliminary roster for the World Cup of Hockey on Wednesday. "We have such an offensive team, I'm looking forward to it," Daniel Sedin said. While the 35-year-old Swede has been finding the net with regularity, the rest of the Canucks have not - to the tune of the team scoring 29 goals in the last 13 games.
OVERTIME
1. With his next goal, Pavelski (29 tallies, 32 assists) will reach the 30-goal, 30-assist plateau for the fourth time in five seasons.
2. The Sharks have won eight straight in Vancouver, including the playoffs.
3. San Jose D Marc-Edouard Vlasic needs one assist to match his career high of 30, set during the 2008-09 season.