Sharks at Canucks preview

SHARKS (33-16-7) at CANUCKS (25-24-7)
10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNP, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Sharks, who are concluding a four-game Canada road trip, are 12-3-0 in their past 15 games and can move ahead of the Calgary Flames for first place in the Western Conference with a win.
The Canucks are 2-3-1 in their past six games after going 3-0-2 in their previous five.

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Players to watch

Sharks center Joe Thornton, who had two assists in a 5-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday to tie Gordie Howe for ninth in NHL history (1,049), will play his 1,541st game, passing Shane Doan and Johnny Bucyk for sole possession of 15th in League history.
Canucks center Elias Pettersson has eight points (three goals, five assists) in seven games since returning from a knee injury.

They said it

"When you get to this point in the season, you start looking at the standings on a daily basis, so each morning I wake up and see where we're at, and a win tonight puts us first in our conference, so it's a big game and something we would be very proud of at this point." -- San Jose center Logan Couture
"I'm not just happy to be here. I want to stay. I want to make an impact in the NHL." -- Canucks forward Zack MacEwen, who will make his NHL debut after being called up from Utica of the American Hockey League on Sunday

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Joe Pavelski
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Joonas Donskoi
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Tim Heed
Brenden Dillon -- Justin Braun
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched:Joakim Ryan, Lukas Radil
Injured:Erik Karlsson (lower body)

Canucks projected lineup

Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Bo Horvat -- Nikolay Goldobin
Zack MacEwen -- Brandon Sutter -- Jake Virtanen
Loui Eriksson -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher
Chris Tanev -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Michael DiPietro
Scratched:Guillaume Brisebois, Tim Schaller, Markus Granlund
Injured:Alexander Edler (face), Sven Baertschi (concussion), Thatcher Demko (knee sprain)

Status report

Gambrell missed the morning skate with the flu and could be replaced by Radil. … Melker Karlsson is expected to play despite leaving in the first period against Edmonton with an undisclosed injury. … Erik Karlsson will miss his eighth straight game but coach Peter DeBoer said he is "really close" to returning.

Stat pack

Pavelski has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past six games and is one assist from 400 in NHL. … Hertl has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past five games. … Boeser has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past eight games and needs two points for 100 in the NHL. … Leivo has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games. … MacEwen, who signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent in 2017, had 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists) in 49 AHL games.