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Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks – Thursday November 7 - 7:30 pm - Sportsnet Vancouver, Comcast Sports California
Vancouver Canucks 10-5-2 fourth in Pacific Division San Jose Sharks 10-1-4 second in Pacific Division
The San Jose Sharks have cooled off slightly, but the Vancouver Canucks will still have a formidable task ahead at the SAP Center on Thursday night. San Jose has built a nine-game winning streak over Vancouver, who would love to stop that record from reaching double-digits.
The Sharks are winless in their last three games but have still picked up all-important points, losing in overtime or the shootout. They're now three points behind Anaheim in the Pacific, but are the only team with just one regulation loss on the year—and even that almost didn't happen. Boston beat them 2-1 on October 24 on a tip-in goal with one second remaining in regulation.
Henrik Sedin has now stretched his point streak to a career-high 12 games and is just three games off the team record of 15, held by Petr Nedved and Todd Bertuzzi.
The Sharks are tied with Anaheim with the most goals in the league, 57. They don't have anyone in the NHL top 10 but have seven players with 10 points or more, led by Joe Pavelski. After the team's great performance in October, Tomas Hertl was named rookie of the month while Antti Niemi was awarded third star of the month by the NHL.
Brent Burns has been out of the Sharks' lineup since October 19 with a facial injury. Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk suggests that Burns might be dealing with a concussion.
Halford says that Burns skated in a non-contact jersey and left the ice early at practice on Wednesday, so that puts him in the "doubtful" category for me tonight.
The Canucks' lineup will likely be the same as it was in Phoenix. After scoring their sixth power-play goal of the year on Tuesday, Vancouver has climbed up to 26th in the rankings with the man advantage. Baby steps...
Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun reports that Tortorella will once again deploy his new first unit—the Sedins and Burrows up front with Kesler and Hamhuis on the points.
Roberto Luongo is expected to face off against Antti Niemi in net.
Note the late start—7:30 pm—and the channel: the game will be broadcast on Sportsnet Vancouver, not Sportsnet Pacific.
New Playoff Procedure
As the Canucks visit their division rivals this week, it's a good time to look at exactly how the new playoff system will work next spring. We know about the wild cards, but what happens after that?
The new system is more division-based than it's been in the past. Here's how it would work, based on today's Western Conference Standings.
Central Division Top Three: 1. Colorado - 24 points 2. Chicago - 24 points 3. Minnesota - 21 points
Pacific Division Top Three: 1. Anaheim - 27 points 2. San Jose - 24 points 3. Phoenix - 24 points
Wild Card: 1. Vancouver - 22 points 2. St. Louis - 20 points
So, we have four teams from each division, but here's where it gets interesting.
The second and third-place teams in each division will play each other and stay in their division, but...
The division leader with the most points will be matched with the wild card team with the lowest points. As things stand today, Anaheim would play St. Louis while the Canucks would cross over to play Colorado.
Central Division: Colorado vs. Vancouver Chicago vs. Minnesota
Pacific Division: Anaheim vs. St. Louis San Jose vs. Phoenix
In the second round, teams play for the Division Championship. If wild card teams Vancouver and/or St. Louis win their first two series, you could see the Blues as the Pacific Division champs or the Canucks winning the Central. It also means that two teams from the same division could end up winning both division championships and face off for the Western Conference title.
For all the talk of the strong Pacific Division, the Central looks impressive as well. I'm not sure the Canucks would get any advantage out of crossing over, but the door is open for a possible first-round matchup against the Blackhawks if the Avs start to falter.
There's lots of hockey to be played between now and April, but remember to look beyond the old one-through-eight seedings when you're pondering playoff possibilities.
One other random note, which underlines the differences between the conferences. With their win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Alain Vigneault's New York Rangers are now just one point out of third place in the Atlantic Division—with 14 points.