The Vancouver Canucks (4-2-3) open a three-game California road trip tonight when they face the San Jose Sharks (3-7-2) at SAP Center.
The Canucks are looking to bounce back after a 6-0 loss at home to New Jersey on Wednesday, while the Sharks have won three in a row.

What we saw

With no local beat writers or independent reporters on this leg of the road trip, information about the Canucks morning skate was hard to come by. Credit to Max Miller of The Hockey News in San Jose for keeping eyes on the Canucks and providing some details. After serving as the backup on Wednesday, Kevin Lankinen will return to the net tonight. Lankinen is 4-0-2 on the season. He made 30 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina in his last start on Monday.
Rick Tocchet suggested on Friday that Derek Forbort could return to the line-up tonight after taking a personal leave. That hasn’t been confirmed. Forbort practiced as an extra on Friday alongside Vincent Desharnais. The official line-up for tonight’s game won’t be known until closer to warm-up.
After going 0 for 4 against New Jersey, the Canucks have gone three games (10 attempts) without a power play goal. The team is 5 for 29 (17.2%) with the man-advantage. That ranks 22nd in the NHL.
The Canucks have won three straight road games (at Florida, Philadelphia and Chicago) and are 3-1 as the visitors so far this season. Five players (Brock Boeser, JT Miller, Conor Garland, Quinn Hughes & Kiefer Sherwood) share the team lead with four road points.
Filip Hronek is celebrating his 27th birthday today. He is also scheduled to appear in his 400th NHL game while Carson Soucy is set to skate in his 300th.
One year ago tonight, captain Quinn Hughes had a career-high five points in a 10-1 romp over the Sharks.
Max Miller also dropped this nugget from the Shark Tank. This is the first report of Thatcher Demko facing shots from anyone other than members of the Canucks coaching staff. This follows a sighting of Demko on the ice at UBC on Friday morning, working with goalie coach Marko Torenius prior to the team practice.

The opponent

After starting the season 0-7-2, the Sharks have rattled off three consecutive victories. They beat Chicago 3-2 on Thursday night, with Will Smith scoring his first two NHL goals, including the winner. Alex Wennberg scored the other goal for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves for his second win of the season. He’ll get the start in goal tonight.
Mikael Granlund is off to a hot start with five goals and a team-high 13 points. Fabian Zetterlund and former Canuck Tyler Toffoli share the team lead with six goals apiece. In 47 career games against the Canucks, Toffoli has scored 23 goals.
Defenceman Jake Walman has a goal and six assists on a three-game point streak. He has nine points in his first dozen games with San Jose. On Thursday, the Sharks acquired blueliner Timothy Liljegren from Toronto. He will make his Sharks debut tonight.
First overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini is nearing his return to the line-up after missing 11 games with a hip injury. The North Vancouver native had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut on October 10th before leaving the Sharks line-up.
These teams will meet three more times this season, with the next showdown scheduled for December 23rd in Vancouver. The Canucks will be back in San Jose on February 6th.
Tonight’s referees: Francis Charron & Jordan Samuels-Thomas
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on what he’s looking for after subpar performance on Wednesday against New Jersey: “Listen, the Sharks have won three in a row and are playing good hockey, but it really doesn’t matter to us. We have to worry about ourselves. I’ve always been a 90% it’s about us, 10% about the other team. Obviously, you have to respect your opponent because they’ve got some good young players and they’re on a roll, but it really comes down to what we’re doing most nights.”
Tocchet on placing Nils Åman on waivers this morning: “We need to get Ams some games. We just don’t want a guy sitting out. That’s the thought process with that so he can play some (AHL) games, hopefully.”
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