"They have been a successful organization for a while and the reason they are successful is their compete level," Canucks forward Sven Baertschi said. "They play hard no matter what, and I don't think they are going to take their foot off the pedal or start looking forward to the playoffs. They know if you take your foot off the pedal now, you might not be ready when the playoffs start."
The Sharks, who host the Canucks on Thursday, did not skate Tuesday morning after arriving in Vancouver after midnight.
Goaltender James Reimer is expected to start after Martin Jones made 30 saves in the 5-2 win against the Kings. Forward Nick Spaling could return after being a healthy scratch Monday for the first time since a Feb. 22 trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Vancouver center Markus Granlund will return after missing seven games with an upper-body injury. It will be Granlund's eighth game against the Sharks this season; he faced San Jose four times before being traded to Vancouver from the Calgary Flames on Feb. 22, and three more times since then as a member of the Canucks.
"They're a tough team, big bodies and they play hard, so it's going to be a tough game," Granlund said. "It's crazy [to play the same team this often], but I like to play against those guys."
Here are the projected lineups:
SHARKS
Tomas Hertl - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
Melker Karlsson - Logan Couture - Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau - Chris Tierney - Joel Ward
Nick Spaling/Micheal Haley - Dainius Zubrus - Tommy Wingels
Paul Martin - Brent Burns
Dylan DeMelo - Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon - Roman Polak
James Reimer
Martin Jones
Injured: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (lower body), Matt Nieto (broken knuckle), Matt Tennyson (head)
Scratched: Nick Spaling/Micheal Haley
CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Jannik Hansen
Sven Baertschi - Markus Granlund - Jake Virtanen
Chris Higgins - Bo Horvat - Alexandre Burrows
Jared McCann - Brendan Gaunce - Emerson Etem
Ben Hutton - Nikita Tryamkin
Dan Hamhuis - Yannick Weber
Matt Bartkowski - Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Ryan Miller
Injured: Linden Vey (upper body), Derek Dorsett (upper body), Radim Vrbata (lower body), Chris Tanev (upper body), Luca Sbisa (upper body), Brandon Sutter (broken jaw), Alexander Edler (fractured tibia)
Scratched: Andrey Pedan
Status Report: Coach Willie Desjardins said Vey, who was not on the ice for morning skate Tuesday, is "banged up" and won't play against the Sharks after playing 16 straight games and snapping a nine-game streak without a point with an assist in a 3-2 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. … Tanev won't play for the ninth time in the past 12 games but has been practicing and could return Thursday in San Jose.
Who's Hot: Pavelski has two goals and two assists during a three-game point streak, four goals and three assists in his past six games, and 10 goals and seven assists in his past 16 games.
