The Vancouver Canucks will look to build on a quality 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche as they visit the SAP Center to visit the 32nd-ranked San Jose Sharks, whose 9-17-1 record at home is the worst in the league.

The Canucks enter Thursday’s slate tied with the Calgary Flames for the final Wild Card spot with 59 points, with each side having played 53 games thus far. Canucks Captain and reigning Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes is set to miss his third straight matchup.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

The Canucks enter this matchup off of one of their best performances of the season, as they shutout a high-powered Avalanche attack on home ice Tuesday evening. Vancouver held a 12-6 edge in high-danger scoring chances and out-shot the Avs 31-25. When the game got a little dicey late in the third, Thatcher Demko came up with a number of clutch saves to preserve the team’s single-goal lead before Brock Boeser added an insurance marker with his first goal in five games.

Canucks newcomers Marcus Pettersson, Filip Chytil and Drew O’Connor all authored quality performances in the win after putting forth strong debuts in the team’s loss on Sunday versus the Detroit Red Wings. Pettersson has brought a steadying presence on the back end, as expected, but the potential upside of Chytil might be the most important talking point regarding the trio of newcomers right now.

New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was highly reluctant to play Chytil big minutes, which obviously is partly due to the fact that the team was rostering a number of established veteran superstars in Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad during Chytil’s tenure with the team.

Since the 2019-20 season, Chytil skated more than 20 minutes in just one of his 294 games played with the Rangers but has played more than 20 minutes in both of his matchups with the Canucks, recording two points and six shots on goal.

The Canucks held a 79.9% expected goal share during Chytil’s 20:45 of play versus the Avalanche. Chytil was promoted to the top power play unit at the tail end of the game against Colorado and appears to be remaining in that role based on yesterday’s practice.

Elias Pettersson (D) had another strong performance versus the Sharks and certainly deserves to be included in the lineup over Noah Juulsen right now. It’s unclear whether or not the Canucks will make any changes on the back end, but it would seem reasonable to expect head coach Rick Tocchet to go back to the same lineup we saw on Tuesday, given the successful result.

It’s also unclear whether it will be Thatcher Demko or Kevin Lankinen starting in goal for the Canucks in this matchup, but it would make sense to go back to Demko after his best performance of the season in Tuesday’s game.

The Sharks enter this matchup in the midst of a horrid run of play, as they are just 2-8-0 over their last ten games. During that span, they have allowed 4.80 goals against per game, which is the worst mark in the league by a wide margin.

While poor goaltending has played a big role in their ugly goals against average, their recent underlying results aren’t much better. In the last 10 matchups, the Sharks have allowed 4.35 xGA/60 and 32.55 shots against per 60.

It’s quite common to see talented young forwards take some time to learn to play defensively at the NHL level, which has certainly factored into the Sharks’ ugly defensive results. However, it’s actually been a number of the team’s veterans, such as Barclay Goodrow, Luke Kunin, and Cody Ceci (prior to being traded to the Dallas Stars), who are posting the worst results defensively.

Macklin Celebrini has been every bit as advertised, netting 39 points in 42 games while offering solid play on both sides of the puck. His -21 rating is an excellent example of how flawed plus/minus can be as a stat, and anybody who’s watched a decent sample of Sharks games this year would argue just how unfair that rating is to his game. Of the 20 worst plus/minus ratings in the league, 14 come from the Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators.

While the Sharks are consistently getting out-chanced heavily and are not doing a good job protecting the key areas of the ice, it certainly hasn’t helped matters that they have received some of the league’s worst goaltending since trading away Mackenzie Blackwood to the Avalanche.

Over the last 10 games, Sharks goaltenders have combined for a .852 save percentage, which is the worst mark in the league by a wide margin.

Perhaps partly to protect the psyche of a young goaltender who had been getting lit up on a nightly basis due to the team’s suspect defensive play, Yaroslav Askarov was sent back down to the minors last week, and Vitek Vanecek was recalled.

Vanecek is set to make his first start at the NHL level since December 14th in this matchup. He holds a .885 save percentage and 3.84 GAA in 14 games played this season.

The Sharks have been the league’s worst defensive side by a wide margin this season, and if anything, their play looks to be regressing right now. While the Canucks certainly have some flaws of their own, this spot provides a great opportunity for them to earn two desperately needed points, and it doesn’t seem likely that they will offer a letdown in this favourable spot.

Backing the Canucks to cover the puck line or to win in regulation look to be solid options, and I certainly would not disagree with anyone backing either of those bets. The Canucks are also available at +101 to score over 3.5 goals per game, which could be another good way to back a strong showing from Vancouver in this matchup.

It’s only been two games, but Chytil’s play with the Canucks has been highly impressive, and it’s no surprise he’s earned a point in each contest as a Canuck. As long as he can stay healthy, he should continue to thrive in a larger role, and this is a great spot to buy on him while the prices in the prop market are still quite reasonable, especially as he has been promoted to the top power play unit.

Pinnacle is offering Chytil to record a point at +101, and that looks to be a great bet as he takes on a Sharks side, which has allowed 4.80 goals against per game over a 10-game sample.