GAME DAY PREVIEW- GAME 80: CANUCKS vs SAN JOSE

Vancouver Canucks (34-35-10) vs San Jose Sharks (44-26-9)

Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC

When: 7:00 pm PST

Where to Watch: SNP

SB Nation Opposition Blog: Fear The Fin

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Both of these teams are playing out the season with this one. The Canucks are out of the playoffs for the 4th straight season, while the Sharks are preparing to get eliminated by Vegas again this year. Still, we soldier on through before we decide who to vicariously enjoy the thrill of the hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

It’s been another long season, though the presence of young players like Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat, as well as the rebirth of Jacob Markstrom have made it a little easier to swallow. The entertainment value has improved, but there’s still a long road for this team to travel to get back to respectability.

They made a couple free agent signings from the NCAA over the last couple days, inking Clarkson University G Jake Kielly and Quinnipiac’s Brogan Rafferty. Both should provide some depth in Utica next season, and if Kielly can stick he could make a good tandem with Michael DiPietro.

In other exciting news, the Canucks are going to be heading into their big anniversary year with a new jersey design!

As far as the Sharks go, they’ve been struggling as the playoffs near, and having Joe Pavelski and Erik Karlsson out of the lineup isn’t helping. They came into March hot, winning 6 straight. They then proceeded to lose the next 7, and have now lost 8 of 9 heading into tonight. They can’t move up or down in the standings, so the key for San Jose is to get through this one without losing any more key pieces before next week and the series against the Golden Knights.

Via The Province, here’s what we should see from both teams:

PROJECTED LINEUPS

CANUCKS

Forwards

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Loui Eriksson

Sven Baertschi — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Ryan Spooner — Adam Gaudette — Josh Leivo

Tim Schaller — Jay Beagle — Markus Granlund

Defence

Alex Edler — Alex Biega

Ben Hutton — Troy Stecher

Quinn Hughes — Luke Schenn

Goal

Jacob Markstrom — Thatcher Demko

SHARKS

Forwards

Timo Meier — Logan Couture — Gustav Nyquist

Evander Kane — Tomas Hertl — Lukas Radil

Marcus Sorensen — Joe Thornton — Kevin Lebanc

Melker Karlsson — Barclay Goodrow — Joonas Donskoi

Defence

Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon — Justin Braun

Joakim Ryan — Tim Heed

Goal

Martin Jones — Aaron Dell

INJURIES

Canucks: Jake Virtanen (upper body, day-to-day), Tyler Motte (upper body), Antoine Roussel (knee), Chris Tanev, (ankle), Brandon Sutter (hernia surgery), Guillaume Brisebois (hip, day-to-day).

Sharks: Joe Pavelski (lower body, day-to-day), Erik Karlsson (groin, day-to-day) Radim Simek (knee, day-to-day).

SPECIAL TEAMS

Power play

Canucks: 27th (16.0%)

Sharks: 6th (24.0%)

Penalty kill

Canucks: 14th (80.9%)

Sharks: 25th (78.9 %)

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN: Arizona Thrashers SACRED REICH are releasing their first album in 23 years this summer on Metal Blade Records, but before that will be a ton of touring and a split single with IRON REAGAN. This one hits stores on April 19th and it’s a ripper!