The Vancouver Canucks finish their quick, two-game road trip through California on Thursday night with a Pacific Division battle against the San Jose Sharks.
This is the first matchup of the season between the Canucks and Sharks, who will meet four times, including twice in six days in mid-November.
Elias Pettersson is a point-per-game player against the Sharks. He has eight goals and 18 assists for 26 points in 26 games. Speaking of being a point-per-game player, Pettersson is above that threshold through 14 games this season with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points.
Brock Boeser isn’t far behind Pettersson. He has 12 points this season and eight points in his last seven games, along with a two-game goal-scoring streak. Boeser has 13 goals in 30 career games against the Sharks.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Sharks enter Thursday’s game with a 6-6-1 record and a two-game losing streak.
- San Jose’s offence starts with North Vancouver’s own Macklin Celebrini. The 20-year-old former first overall pick has scored five goals and added 10 assists for 15 points in 11 games this season.
- Celebrini is currently playing on the Sharks’ top line with Collin Graf and 2026 second-overall pick Ivar Stenberg.
- Former Canuck Tyler Toffoli is the leading scorer on the man advantage with three power play goals this season. And former Canuck Kiefer Sherwood leads the team with 73 hits.
- The Sharks’ defence corps looks a bit different this season, with Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse, and Michael Kesselring as the top three minute-munchers on the backend.
- San Jose’s power play ranks 8th in the league, scoring on 25% of their opportunities.
- Yaroslav Askarov is the starting netminder. He holds a 3-5-0 record with an .898% save percentage and a 3.13 goals-against average.
The Story: Snapped the Streak
The Canucks snapped a 10-game winless streak on Tuesday with a gutsy 6-5 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Head Coach Manny Malhotra spoke after the game about what the win meant to the group.
“I am really pleased with the response from the guys. That’s the type of effort that we’ve been looking for for a while now. Just in terms of the response, there were a lot of instances where we could have gone away on the night, but we stuck with it, applied a good amount of pressure, and then guys came up with some timely goals for us,” said Malhotra.
He added that stringing together 10 straight losses bleeds into the room and can affect the group’s morale, but Tuesday’s win wasn’t just about getting two points; it was also about how the team came back from behind in the third period. He looks at the strong third period as something this group can build on.
Brock Boeser liked his team’s effort in the win and how the team never got down on themselves, even when the score looked lopsided in the third period.
“They took the lead on us, but [there was] no quitting there in the third. We all could feel like we were pretty close to just getting a ton of goals, and we did that and came back. So, I’m proud of our group,” said Boeser.
Canucks' Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Jonathan Lekkerimäki: 4g-3a-7p
Elias Pettersson: 2g-4a-6p
Brock Boeser: 2g-4a-6p
Filip Hronek: 1g-3a-4p
Linus Karlsson: 2g-1a-3p
When and Where to Watch
Thursday’s game starts at 7:00 p.m. PT, and you can watch on Sportsnet or listen to Brendan Batchelor’s radio call on KiSS West Coast.
