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Demko starts as the Vancouver Canucks chase 1st place against the Sharks |
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Saturday January 18 - Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks - 7 p.m. - CBC, Sportsnet, CityTV, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 46 GP, 26-18-4, 56 pts, third in Pacific Division
San Jose Sharks: 49 GP, 21-24-4, 46 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
If they get a little help, the Vancouver Canucks could head into their bye week/All-Star break in first place in the Pacific Division with a win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks go into Saturday's action one point behind the Calgary Flames — who are playing in Ottawa at 1 p.m. PT — and also one point behind the Arizona Coyotes — who play Edmonton at noon PT, on Sportsnet.
If the Canucks win, and those teams don't win, Vancouver will be in first place on Sunday morning.
If those two teams lose and Vancouver gets a single point, there'd be four teams tied with 57 points in the Pacific, because that would mean Edmonton wins, and they're at 55 right now. And Vegas goes into Saturday's action tied with Vancouver at 56 points, playing in Montreal at 4 p.m. PT. So there is a possibility that we'll see a five-team tie on Sunday.
After Saturday's game, the Canucks will be off until they host St. Louis on January 27. Vegas is the only team in the mix that plays before that, and it's only one game, so we won't see the Canucks sliding down the standings while they're on their break.
Calgary — off until January 28, vs. St. Louis
Arizona — off until January 29, vs. Anaheim
Golden Knights — play in Boston on January 21, then off till January 31
Oilers — off until January 29, vs. Calgary
As for the Sharks — I've heard some hockey people clinging to the idea that San Jose could be this year's Blues, climbing from the bottom of the pack to challenge for the Stanley Cup.
But I don't buy it. For one thing, the Blues' ascendance had already begun last January, when Jordan Binnington joined the team. They went 8-4-1 in January and hit .500 at 22-22-5 right before the All-Star Break, and just three points out of a wild-card spot.
The Sharks are also heading into their break following Saturday's game. They're 4-3-1 this month but still three games below .500, and a whopping nine points out of the second wild card, with four teams to pass. That's not good.
The Sharks are also saddled with a minus-34 goal differential — worst in the Western Conference. They're coming into Vancouver on a two-game losing streak and have been poor on the road this year, with a record of 8-13-3.
For their part, the Canucks have been quite good on home ice this season. They've lost just eight of 23 games so far — five in regulation and three in overtime/shootout. That puts them in the same company as conference-leading St. Louis, with four regulation and four overtime/shootout losses.
This will be the first meeting between the Canucks and Sharks at Rogers Arena this season. They've played twice in San Jose, where the Canucks picked up an easy 5-2 win in November, then dropped a 4-2 decision in mid-December, just a few days after Bob Boughner took over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench.
All told, the Sharks were 15-16-2 when DeBoer was fired. They've gone 6-8-2 in the month-and-a-bit that Boughner has been in charge. So, no real change.
One shift has been more game action for Aaron Dell, who has started 10 of 14 games since Boughner took over — and played both games against the Canucks this season. He's now at an 8-8-2 record with a .909 save percentage and 2.84 goals against, which stacks up well compared to Martin Jones' .891 and 3.22.
Jones was in net for San Jose's last game, a 4-0 shutout loss in Colorado on Thursday. But the North Vancouver native does have a stellar record against the Canucks in his career: 9-2-1, with a .942 save percentage and 1.83 GAA.
For all their troubles, the Sharks are relatively healthy, but they did lose captain Logan Couture last week due to a fractured ankle. In addition to their goaltending problems, the Sharks are also the fourth lowest-scoring team in the league. Look no further than their sputtering power play, now clicking at just 16.8 percent. And while 32 points in 49 games would be decent output for a lot of defensemen, that's a long way off Brent Burns' usual pace. He was over a point a game last year, with 83 points, and hasn't produced at a lower rate than this since his very first season with the Sharks, back in 2011-12.
Burns currently sits 12th in scoring by defensemen, one point behind Quinn Hughes. His teammate, Erik Karlsson, sits seventh with 35 points, but both players have scary plus-minus numbers. Burns is tied for fourth-worst in the league at minus-22 and Karlsson is tied for 16th-worst, at minus-16. Sharks forwards Kevin Labanc (also -22) and Tomas Hertl (-18) are also right in that mix.
Couture was the team leader in scoring when he was injured, with 36 points. Karlsson's tied with Hertl and Evander Kane for second place.
On the Canucks, Tanner Pearson's 35 points rank him fifth on the team. Elias Pettersson quietly hit 50 with two assists against the Coyotes on Thursday, and he's followed by J.T. Miller (45), Brock Boeser (43) and Bo Horvat (41).
After we saw Jake Virtanen score the game-winning goal on his new line with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller on Thursday, he'll start in the same spot against the Sharks on Saturday night.
No changes to the lineup — except in goal.
After facing 35 shots against the Coyotes on Thursday, Jacob Markstrom does get the night off ahead of his trip to St. Louis for All-Star weekend.
I'll wrap up today with a note on the Utica Comets, where Justin Bailey has caught fire with three hat tricks in his last four games.
The 24-year-old free-agent signing is now up to 34 points in 40 games with the Comets this season, tied for 15th in AHL scoring. The crazy part is that he ranks fifth on his own team!
After their 6-3 win over Hartford on Friday, the Comets are 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games and tucked into first place in the AHL's North Division with 52 points, two up on Belleville.
No All-Star break in the minors! The Comets wrap up their homestand on Saturday against Cleveland, then have four games next week, including a home-and-home against Belleville, before the AHL's All-Star festivities run next Sunday and Monday.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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