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Anders Nilsson returns in net, Canucks try to end losing streak in San Jose |
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Friday November 23 - Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks - 6 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 24 GP, 10-12-2, 22 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
San Jose Sharks: 22 GP, 11-7-4, 26 pts, second in Pacific Division
As part of a busy post-Thanksgiving Day slate of NHL action, the Vancouver Canucks will wrap up the 15-game schedule at the Shark Tank on Friday night but take note of the earlier-than-usual start time: 6 p.m. Pacific Time.
Jacob Markstrom will get his much-needed rest as Anders Nilsson gets his first start since October 25.
Nilsson was 3-3-0 with a .912 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average when he went down with the broken finger that has kept him out of action for the last four weeks.
Travis Green has made a couple of other tweaks to his lineup at the morning skate: up front, Brendan Leipsic draws onto the fourth line in place of Darren Archibald and on the blue line, Derrick Pouliot is dropped to the third pair with Troy Stecher after his rough outing in Anaheim on Wednesday. Michael Del Zotto will move up to play with Chris Tanev.
Reid Boucher has joined the team, but it doesn't look like he'll play on Friday. Thanksgiving travel is tough, even when you're doing it for work.
And while Alex Edler is taking the morning skate, he's on the extra pair with Alex Biega, so he's still not quite ready to go.
If you missed it, Daniel Wagner of the Vancouver Courier provided a not-very-encouraging update on Sven Baertschi's concussion recovery earlier this week, after spotting a Baertschi interview with a Swiss outlet.
If there's one bright spot, the Swiss player is well enough to be repping Swiss chocolate this weekend at a meet-and-greet:
As I foreshadowed in Wednesday's blog, the Canucks did indeed drop out of a Western Conference playoff spot with their loss to the Ducks. They come into Friday's action in fourth place in the Pacific but if they lose again tonight they could be as low as seventh by the time they take on the last-place Kings for the first game of a home-and-home series on Saturday.
Heading into Friday's games, the Canucks are one point ahead of Edmonton and Vegas and two points up on Arizona—and have played three more games than the Oilers, one more than the Golden Knights and four more than the Coyotes. Edmonton visits Anaheim on Friday while Vegas hosts Calgary and Arizona is at home to Colorado.
If you feel like killing time before our game by watching more hockey, that's available, pretty much all day. As I type this at 11 a.m., the first game of the day between the Flyers and Rangers is running on NBC. Also televised nationally on Friday: Detroit at Washington (1 p.m. PT, Sportsnet 360), Calgary at Vegas (3 p.m. PT, Sportnet One) and Pittsburgh at Boston (4:30 p.m. PT, Sportsnet 360).
As for the opposition: the Sharks are wrapping up a six-game homestand against the Canucks on Friday. They've gone 3-1-1 so far and are coming off that 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton on Tuesday, in Ken Hitchcock's debut behind the Oilers bench.
Considered by many to be the one respectable team in the Pacific Division this season, San Jose hasn't exactly dominated through the early part of the season—and Erik Karlsson's adjustment to his new surroundings has been far from seamless, although it looks like he's starting to find his legs. He was held off the scoresheet against Edmonton on Tuesday but had five points in three games just before that and finally scored his first goal as a Shark on November 17 against St. Louis.
All told, Karlsson is 1-11-12 in 22 games, with seven of those points coming on the power play. And he's still skating miles—leading the Sharks with an average of 25:04 of ice time per game. That's about a minute and a half more than Brent Burns, who once again leads his team in scoring with 23 points—two more than second-place Logan Couture and Timo Meier.
Despite all the firepower that Burns and Karlsson bring to the power play, that has been an area of weakness for San Jose so far this season. The Canucks come into Friday's game ranked 17th in the NHL with a success rate of an even 20.0 percent and their power play has been one bright spot during the losing streak, with goals in five straight games. The Sharks are two spots behind them, at 18.6 percent. But—San Jose's penalty killing is second-best in the league with a kill rate of 89.7 percent.
Friday's game will be Vancouver's first against San Jose this season. Last year, Vancouver was 1-2-1 against the Sharks and took just one point out of the Shark Tanks, with a 5-4 overtime loss in December and a 4-1 loss in February.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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