Sharks at Canucks preview

SHARKS (44-26-9) at CANUCKS (34-35-10)
10 p.m. ET; SNP, NBCSCA+, NHL.TV

San Jose has clinched second in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights but is 1-7-1 in its past nine games.
It's the final home game of the season for the Canucks, who have won back-to-back games and are 6-3-1 in their past 10 but have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Players to watch

Sharks forward Joe Thornton will play his 1,564th NHL game, tying Nicklas Lidstrom for 12th place on the all-time list. Thornton is two assists from tying Steve Yzerman (1,063) for eighth all-time in the NHL.
Canucks forward Brock Boeser has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"You like to believe you can turn a switch on (for the playoffs), and I believe you can. But you start rolling the dice a little if that is what you are looking for, so when you drop the games we have lately and the way we have played there is something for us to earn out there." -- Sharks captain Joe Pavelski
"Last game of the season (at Rogers Arena), and we want to show our fans how much we appreciate them with a big win." -- Canucks center Bo Horvat

Sharks projected lineup

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

Canucks projected lineup

Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi -- Adam Gaudette -- Ryan Spooner
Tim Schaller -- Jay Beagle -- Markus Granlund
Alexander Edler -- Alex Biega
Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher
Quinn Hughes -- Luke Schenn
Thatcher Demko
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Ashton Sautner, Josh Teves, Nikolay Goldobin ,Derrick Pouliot
Injured:Jake Virtanen (lower body), Guillaume Brisebois (hip), Tyler Motte (upper body), Chris Tanev (fractured ankle), Antoine Roussel (knee), Brandon Sutter (lower body)

Status report

Erik Karlsson, who has missed the past 15 games with a groin injury, skated with the Sharks on Tuesday and said he would have been ready to go if this were a playoff game. … Virtanen will miss his second straight game but hopes to play during Vancouver's season-ending two-game road trip.

Stat pack

Hertl has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. Couture has two points in each of San Jose's past three games (one goal, five assists). … Horvat has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games. He is two goals from 100 in the NHL.