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At the Rink blog

At the Rink: Canucks at Sharks

Saturday, 03.07.2015 / 5:11 PM

By Eric Gilmore - NHL.com Correspondent / 2014-2015 At the Rink blog

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2014-2015 At the Rink blog
At the Rink: Canucks at Sharks

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks will be without injured defenseman Matt Irwin when they play the Vancouver Canucks in a crucial Pacific Division game at SAP Center on Saturday (10 p.m. ET, CBC).

Irwin sustained an upper-body injury during practice Friday while taking a shot and did not skate Saturday. Scott Hannan will replace Irwin in the lineup against Vancouver, and the Sharks recalled defenseman Taylor Fedun from Worcester of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis.

Irwin had played 19 straight games and had been playing his best hockey of the season before getting hurt. In his past four games Irwin had two goals and two assists.

"He's been really good since he got back into the lineup," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "He worked so hard when he was out of the lineup to improve his foot speed. He's quicker. Offensively he's contributed in a lot of areas. His confidence is at an all-time high. It's unfortunate for him as an individual to not be able to continue on, but hopefully he's very short-term and has the opportunity to get back in before he loses anything that he's gained."

The Canucks could be shorthanded also. Second-line forward Chris Higgins, who left practice early Friday, did not take part in Vancouver's optional morning skate. Third-line center Nick Bonino missed practice Friday but skated Saturday and said he expected to play.

The Canucks have 76 points, the same as the second-place Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division, while San Jose is fifth with 72 points.

"If we win against these guys tonight we've put a little bit of a gap between us that can be tough to catch," Bonino said.

The Canucks have gone 2-0-0 at SAP Center while the Sharks have gone 2-0-0 at Rogers Arena, including a 6-2 victory Tuesday. The Sharks scored three goals on four shots in the first 7:45 against backup goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who was making his first NHL start of the season.

Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Logan Couture each scored a goal, giving San Jose a 3-0 lead and ending Markstrom's night early. Eddie Lack took over and allowed one goal on 24 shots. San Jose added a pair of empty-net goals.

Lack will make his first career start at SAP Center on Saturday.

"I felt like we could have won the game at home even though we were down 3-0 early," Lack said. "The first 10 minutes are going to be huge tonight. We have to play a 60-, 65-minute game if we want the result to go our way."

The Canucks followed their loss to San Jose with a 3-2 shootout loss Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena.

The Sharks ended an eight-game home losing streak (0-6-2) Monday with a 4-0 victory against the Montreal Canadiens and then beat Vancouver the next night.

"We've had a tendency to play like waves here a little bit, where we build and crest and then crash. And that can't happen," McLellan said. "It's not going to work that way in the last 17 games if we want to get to the second season. So we've got to build a wave and we've got to ride it for a long period. We began that process with the two games and now we've got to continue on."

The Sharks haven't won three straight games since Jan. 21-31 when they beat the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks.

"We know what we've got in this room," Couture said. "I think we're a better team than what we've shown for most of the season. So hopefully we get hot at the right time and win a bunch in a row."

Here are the projected lineups:

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Zack Kassian

Shawn Matthias - Linden Vey - Alexandre Burrows

Derek Dorsett - Nick Bonino - Radim Vrbata

Ronalds Kenins - Bo Horvat - Jannik Hansen

Alexander Edler - Yannick Weber

Dan Hamhuis - Luca Sbisa

Frank Corrado - Ryan Stanton

Eddie Lack

Jacob Markstrom

Scratched: Brandon McMillan, Adam Clendening

Injured: Ryan Miller (knee), Christopher Tanev (head), Kevin Bieksa (broken hand), Brad Richardson (ankle), Chris Higgins (undisclosed)

SHARKS

Melker Karlsson - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto

Tommy Wingels - Ben Smith - Tomas Hertl

John Scott - Chris Tierney - Barclay Goodrow

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun

Scott Hannan - Brent Burns

Mirco Mueller - Brenden Dillon

Antti Niemi

Alex Stalock

Scratched: None

Injured: Raffi Torres (knee), Mike Brown (right leg), Matt Irwin (upper body)

Status report: Fedun, 26, has five goals and 29 points in 56 AHL games. He scored two goals in four games for the Edmonton Oilers last season. ... After being a healthy scratch against Arizona, Vey is expected to return to the lineup and center the second line, with Matthias moving from center to left wing. ... If Higgins is able to play then Kenins likely will be scratched.

Who's hot: Marleau has three goals and two assists during a four-game point streak. ... Pavelski has one goal and four assists during a four-game point streak. ... Nieto had his first two-goal game of the season Tuesday against Vancouver. ... Vrbata has one goal and three assists in his past three games. ... Henrik Sedin has six goals and seven assists in his past nine games.

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