Sharks at Canucks: Lines, open thread and how to watch

Plus, update on Eklund’s injury

Congrats to Head Coach David Quinn, who was just named the head coach of Team USA for the Men’s Worlds.

The San Jose Sharks have 11 games left in the season and then Quinn can start preparing for the Worlds.

Meanwhile, not sure how bad it is but William Eklund was hurt in last night’s Barracuda game.

It sounds like he’s day-to-day.

Tank for Bedard update

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at the Tank for Bedard race (although I know you’ve been keeping on top of things in the comments). Here’s a look at where things stand as of this morning.

We’ve included the Vancouver Canucks in this series only because San Jose is playing our neighbors to the north tonight.

The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to hold on to that 32nd spot in the league, but only trail the Sharks by two points today. The Blue Jackets next play tomorrow night against the New York Islanders.

San Jose is holding strong at 53 points and doing its darndest to stay at the bottom of the pack. The Sharks are 1-6-3 in the last 10 games. The only team in the mix with fewer than two regulation wins over the last 10 games.

The Chicago Blackhawks are a point ahead of the Sharks with a game in hand. The Anaheim Ducks are three games up. After that, it’s a huge jump to the Montreal Canadiens, who have 62 points, 9 more than the Sharks.

The only teams on the tank list that the Sharks play again this season is the Arizona Coyotes and the Canucks. All the other games are against playoff teams including the Colorado Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers. I like our odds.

San Jose Sharks

As for game day, the Sharks have recalled Jacob Peterson from the Barracuda to replace the injured Andreas Johnsson.

San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reports that Radim Simek and Jacob MacDonald are both close to returning and could be on the ice before the end of the road trip. Jonah Gadjovich’s return is still a ways off.

STATS

Record: 19-37-15
Streak: L7
Goals Leader: Logan Couture (24 G, 36 A)
Assists Leader: Erik Karlsson (22 G, 65 A)
Power Play: 17.8%
Penalty Kill: 82.6%
Goals For/60: 2.86
Goals Against/60: 3.78

LINES
(Per dailyfaceoff.com)

Alexander Barabanov – Tomas Hertl – Martin Kaut
Noah Gregor — Logan Couture — Kevin Labanc
Jacob Peterson – Nico Sturm – Fabian Zetterlund
Oskar Lindblom – Steven Lorentz – Andrew Agozzino

Nikolai Knyzhov – Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Matt Benning
Mario Ferraro – Radim Simek

James Reimer
Kaapo Kahkonen

Expected Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich

Injured Reserve: Luke Kunin (knee), Markus Nutivaara (lower body), Jacob MacDonald (undisclosed), Evgeny Svechnikov (lower body)

Vancouver Canucks

STATS

Record: 31-34-5
Streak: L1
Goals Leader: Andrei Kuzmenko (34 G, 27 A)
Assists Leader: Quinn Hughes (5 G, 62 A)
Power Play: 22.8%
Penalty Kill: 69.6%
Goals For/60: 3.30
Goals Against/60: 3.70

LINES
(Per dailyfaceoff.com)

Andrei Kuzmenko — Elias Pettersson — Anthony Beauvillier
Phil di Giuseppe — J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua — Nils Aman — Conor Garland
Vitali Kravtsov — Sheldon Dries — Vasily Podkolzin

Quinn Hughes — Filip Hronek
Guillaume Brisebois — Tyler Myers
Ethan Bear — Kyle Burroughs

Thatcher Demko
Collin Delia

Expected Scratches: None

Injured Reserve: Tucker Poolman, Tanner Pearson, Travis Dermott, Ilya Mikheyev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson

How to watch

Today’s game will be broadcast locally on NBCSCA. The radio call will be streamed through the Sharks Audio Network. You can also live stream on ESPN+ (blackout restrictions may apply). Puck drop is 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET at Rogers Areana in Vancouver.

Canucks’ fans can watch on SNP.

Check back then to follow along with all of the play-by-play action in the comment section below!