CSN Bay Area

Programming note 
Sharks-Canucks coverage gets underway at 6:30 p.m. on CSN California with Sharks Pregame Live

Where they stand
Sharks: 27-18-7, 61 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Canucks: 28-18-3, 59 points, 4th Pacific Division

The latest

Sharks: Calgary scored three times in the third period in beating the Sharks at the Saddledome on Wednesday night, 3-1, to take over second place in the Pacific Division. John Scott’s second goal was all the offense San Jose could muster against the surging Flames, who have won three of the four games in the season series. Jonas Hiller outplayed Alex Stalock in net, as the Sharks backup allowed three goals on 23 shots to suffer the loss. San Jose opens a three-game homestand with Carolina on Saturday.

Canucks: Luca Sbisa’s overtime goal was the difference in a 3-2 Canucks overtime win over the Jets on Tuesday. Alex Burrows and Ronalds Kenins also found the net for Vancouver, which will be playing the fifth of a six-game homestand tonight. Eddie Lack made 26 saves in net for his fourth win. The Canucks are 7-7-0 since the turn of the New Year.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Brent Burns. The Sharks’ lone All-Star continues to play big minutes, leading the team with 24:09 per game, but the 29-year-old is now riding a 12-game drought without a goal and has just two assists in his last eight games. At the same time, Burns has been a plus player in six of the last nine games, and has at least two shots on goal in 15 straight.

Canucks: Daniel Sedin. The Canucks’ scorer is tied with (surprise!) brother Henrik for the Canucks team lead in scoring, with 42 points. Daniel is just two goals away from moving into second all-time in franchise history (Trevor Linden, 318). In 52 career games against the Sharks, he has 32 points (9g, 23a), including a pair of assists through two games this season.

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.73 (15th)
Goals-against per game: 2.65 (18th)
Power play: 21.0 percent (8th)
Penalty kill: 81.6 percent (16th)

Canucks
Goals per game: 2.69 (18th)
Goals-against per game: 2.55 (12th)
Power play: 18.0 percent (16th)
Penalty kill: 86.3 percent (4th)

Probable lines

Sharks
Melker Karlsson – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Matt Nieto
Tomas Hertl – James Sheppard – Barclay Goodrow
John Scott – Chris Tierney – Tyler Kennedy

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson
Matt Irwin – Scott Hannan

Antti Niemi (likely starter)
Alex Stalock

Canucks
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Alex Burrows
Shawn Matthias – Nick Bonino – Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins – Linden Vey – Jannik Hansen
Ronalds Kenins – Bo Horvat – Derek Dorsett

Alex Edler – Chris Tanev
Dan Hamhuis – Luca Sbisa
Ryan Stanton – Adam Clendening

Ryan Miller
Eddie Lack

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Tye McGinn (upper body), Justin Braun (left hand), Tommy Wingels (left hand), Raffi Torres (right knee) and Mike Brown (broken right fibula) are out.

Canucks: Brad Richardson (lower body) and Kevin Bieksa (broken hand) are out.

Season/All-Time series

This is the first of two visits to Vancouver for the Sharks this season. The Canucks beat the Sharks at SAP Center twice this season: 3-2 on Nov. 6 and 3-1 on Dec. 30.

Radim Vrbata has one goal in each game, while Ryan Miller is 2-0 with a 1.50 GAA and .956 SP. No Sharks have more than one point in the season series, while each of their two goaltenders has suffered a loss.

San Jose visits Vancouver again on March 3, while the Canucks are at SAP Center one final time on March 7.

The Sharks are 44-45-14 all-time against Vancouver.

Odds and ends

*Patrick Marleau is set to play in his 1300th NHL game tonight, becoming the youngest player ever to do so. He will be the 11th NHL player to play 1300 or more with one franchise.

*Marleau has 45 points (24g, 21a) in 65 career games against the Canucks.

*The Sharks are 4-3-0 in the second of back-to-backs this season.

*Matt Irwin (Brentwood Bay), Scott Hannan (Richmond) and Brenden Dillon (New Westminster) are all from the Vancouver area.

*Todd McLellan has 298 career wins as a head coach.

*The Sedin line with Radim Vrbata has combined for 118 points this season (38g, 80a).

*The Canucks are 12-2-3 in one-goal games.