Canucks at Sharks preview

CANUCKS (10-12-2) at SHARKS (11-7-4)
9 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP, NHL.TV

Goaltender Anders Nilsson (broken finger) will make his first start since Oct. 25 for Vancouver, which is 0-6-1 in its past seven games and has been outscored 30-16 during the streak. It last lost eight straight from March 26-April 9, 2017.
Forward Joe Pavelski will try to extend his five-game point streak (six goals, four assists) for the Sharks, who are 3-1-1 during a six-game homestand, and are 9-0-1 in their past 10 games against the Canucks, including five straight wins in San Jose.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Bo Horvat has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past eight games.
Sharks center Joe Thornton needs one assist to pass Mario Lemieux for sole possession of 11th place on the NHL's all-time list (1,034).

They said it

"This is a team that needs everyone to play well. I have no doubt in our minds and our coaches mind or our teammates' mind that [Anders Nilsson is] back, he's ready and the guys are confident in him." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"The League doesn't allow you to get too frustrated for too long. We've had a good homestand. We're picking up points. We'll take the good and look at the bad and try and get it fixed." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer

Canucks projected lineup

Antoine Roussel -- Bo Horvat --
Sam Gagner
Nikolay Goldobin -- Elias Pettersson -- Jake Virtanen
Tyler Motte -- Markus Granlund -- Loui Eriksson
Brendan Leipsic -- Adam Gaudette -- Tim Schaller
Michael Del Zotto -- Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrick Pouliot -- Troy Stecher
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Alex Biega, Reid Boucher, Darren Archibald
Injured: Brock Boeser (groin), Brandon Sutter (shoulder), Jay Beagle (arm), Sven Baertschi (concussion), Alexander Edler (knee)

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Antti Suomela -- Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched:Radim Simek, Tim Heed, Lukas Radil
Injured:None

Status report

Edler skated and could play against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. ... The Sharks, who will play the first of back-to-back games, did not have a morning skate and did not revealed their starting goaltender. ... Nilsson was activated from injured reserve on Wednesday and backed up Markstrom in a 4-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Stat pack

The Canucks last win against the Sharks in San Jose was March 31, 2016 (4-2). ... Pettersson has two points (two goals, zero assists) in his past seven games after having 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his first 11 games this season. ... Couture has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past two games.