The Vancouver Canucks look to extend a lopsided rivalry when they visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Vancouver is 14-1-0 in its last 15 games with the Sharks dating to the 2019-20 season. The run of dominance includes victories in the clubs’ first two meetings this season: 3-2 in San Jose on Nov. 2 and 4-3 in Vancouver on Dec. 23.
The Canucks are 4-1-1 in their last six games, building momentum in their quest for a playoff spot. Vancouver is coming off a 3-0 shutout win Tuesday over the Colorado Avalanche, who hold the first wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
Former All-Star Thatcher Demko made 25 saves for his first shutout within a difficult season. A knee injury held up his season debut until Dec. 10, and he was only 4-6-3 with a 3.26 goals-against average in 14 games before Tuesday.
“I know where my game’s at right now,” Demko said. “There’s been some games that probably didn’t reflect that. Sometimes that’s the challenging part as a player, is being able to have confidence and trust in yourself internally when you know externally, it might not look that way.”
The Canucks could go with the hot hand in Demko on Thursday or give Kevin Lankinen another road start. Lankinen ranks second among NHL goaltenders in road wins, with a 13-3-3 record and a 2.34 GAA in 19 games.
Quinn Hughes will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. The star defenseman leads the Canucks in both assists (45) and points (59).
Jake DeBrusk leads the Canucks with 19 goals, and he had a goal and an assist against Colorado. The streaky forward collected only four points (two goals, two assists) over the 17 games in between Tuesday’s outing and his previous two-point performance on Dec. 28.
The Sharks are last in the NHL and are 4-18-1 in their last 23 games.
Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens marked the Sharks’ first game since Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci were traded to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Granlund is still San Jose’s team leader with 45 points, but rookie sensation Macklin Celebrini leads all current Sharks with 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists).
Celebrini is also challenging for the points lead among all NHL rookies, despite missing 12 games to a lower-body injury earlier this season.
“(Celebrini is) 18 years old and already been pretty much our most consistent player ever since he’s come back from that injury,” forward Tyler Toffoli said. “We’re going to need him to keep playing this way, and we’re all going to have to step up here.”
Ty Dellandrea and Alexander Wennberg are questionable due to upper-body injuries. Dellandrea has missed San Jose’s last four games, and Wennberg the last two.
Vitek Vanecek hasn’t played since suffering a fractured cheekbone on Dec. 14, but he served as Alexander Georgiev’s backup against Montreal. Vanecek could return to the ice Thursday, as he is expected to play in at least one of the Sharks’ two games before the league’s break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
–Field Level Media
