Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks - Thursday November 6 - 7:30 p.m. - Sportsnet 360, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 9-4-0 second in Pacific Division
San Jose Sharks: 7-4-2 fifth in Pacific Division
After putting together a terrific start to their 2014-15 season, the Vancouver Canucks' real test starts tonight, with the first of three games in four nights against the powerhouses from California.
"California was death valley less than 12 months ago for this team," proclaims
Mark Spector of Sportsnet, never shy about laying on the hype.
The Canucks were 2-9-3 against the California teams last season. The two wins were a 4-2 road victory over the Sharks on November 7 and a late-season 2-1 win on April 5 against an undermanned L.A. team that was resting up for the playoffs.
So—on this exact same trip one year ago, Vancouver beat San Jose, then lost 5-1 to L.A. and 3-1 to Anaheim on the weekend. Maybe it's a good sign that Linden Vey was a standout for the Kings in that L.A. game one year ago, then Nick Bonino scored the game-winner for the Ducks?
Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Can't look past the Sharks today!
It's been nearly a year since these two teams have met. Remember that schedule quirk that crammed all four Sharks games into the first few weeks of last season?
Not only haven't we seen them in awhile, it's tough to get a read on this team through the early going this year. Despite promises of massive overhauls over the summer, they've come into the season without many changes. The biggest ones: Joe Thornton has traded in his "C" for an "A", and Brent Burns has moved back to defense after a couple of seasons at forward.
From the back end, Burns is leading the Sharks in scoring and is tied for the scoring lead among all NHL blueliners with 13 points in 13 games, but he can still be a bit of an adventure defensively. His plus-minus is even at this point.
The Sharks have been streaky through the early part of the season, but they will be a rested team tonight. They haven't played since a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders at home last Saturday.
Expect to see Ryan Miller and Antti Niemi guarding the nets. I woudn't have expected this stat: Miller is 7-1-1 in his career against San Jose.
As I type this, the Canucks are just hitting the ice at the Shark Tank for their morning skate, so we don't have any other details yet about tonight's lineup.
Who would you like to see as the scratch to make room for Alex Burrows? And will we expect to see the same six defensemen as we did in Colorado?
Though I hadn't heard a word about any health issues for Luca Sbisa when he was taken out of the lineup for Tuesday's game in Colorado, Tony Gallagher cryptically wonders "Perhaps Luca Sbisa’s problem is a little more serious than we think," in today's
Province Hat Trick.
For his part, Burrows sounds like he's raring to go. And he's certainly doing everything in his power to send the message that he's not a player who needs to be on the "Watch List" of the Department of Player Safety.
“It’s not an easy job, and Stephane Quintal (senior vice-president of player safety) has some tough decisions to make to protect the players, and I’m all for that,” Burrows told
Ben Kuzma of
The Province.
“At the end of the day, I don’t like seeing head shots and I’d like to get them out of the game. But it’s a fast game and a contact sport.”
As usual in San Jose, note the game's late start time of 7:30. Tonight's broadcast will be over on Sportsnet 360.
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