Canucks Army GDT #35 – Canucks @ Sharks

Broadcast Info

Lineups

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins	Nick Bonino	Derek Dorsett
Shawn Matthias	Brad Richardson	Linden Vey
Alexandre Burrows	Bo Horvat	Jannik Hansen

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Chris Tanev
Ryan Stanton	Kevin Bieksa
Luca Sbisa	Yannick Weber

Zack Kassian has or has not been cleared to play depending on who you ask, and will not dress tonight. Dan Hamhuis is still on injured reserve. Derek Dorsett will once again skate on the second line. Ryan Miller will get the start in goal.

LW	C	RW
Tomas Hertl	Joe Thornton	Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau	Logan Couture	Tommy Wingels
Barclay Goodrow	James Sheppard	Melker Karlsson
Micheal Haley	Andrew Desjardins	Tye McGinn

Defensive Pairings
Marc-Edouard Vlasic	Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon	Brent Burns
Scott Hannan	Matt Tennyson

Matt Nieto has been activated from injured reserve, and he will play with Thornton and Pavelski on the top line. Tomas Hertl will move down to line 3. Alex Stalock will get the starter’s nod.

Head to Head

Storylines

1. Home Ice Perfection – the San Jose Sharks are undefeated in their home rink in December, winning all seven matchups played on their ice. They have dropped three of their four road games in the month though, including their last two games against Anaheim and the Los Angeles Kings. Still, the Sharks have proven to be a nightmare for visitors, and a win tonight will ensure a perfect 8-0-0 December in front of their home fans.
2. Dillon Dominant – Since being dealt to the Sharks from the Dallas Stars, Canucks Army favourite Brenden Dillon has been fantastic skating on San Jose’s second pair with Brent Burns. In a little over 200 minutes together, Burns and Dillon have a Corsi% north of 57%, which is well above the decent 51.3% mark that Burns has been posting when away from his new partner. The results haven’t quite been there yet, but with numbers like these, they’re sure to be coming soon.
3. Miller Time? – The Canucks had a very poor outing last game against the Anaheim Ducks, but were able to steal a point thanks to some good luck and a strong showing from Ryan Miller. Miller’s best game as a Canuck arguably came earlier this year against these same Sharks in a 3-2 Canucks win in which Vancouver was outshot 36-19. Repeating that performance may be difficult, but necessary for Vancouver to leave San Jose with a valuable two points.

Gameday Reading

• Canucks.com’s Tale of the Tape
• The Province’s Jonathan McDonald wonders if Torts was right all along in today’s Morning Skate
• Jim Jameson has a look at Vancouver’s faceoff problems, and compares Ryan Miller to the Sharks’ goalies
• For the Sharks perspective, our friends at Fear The Fin have you covered