Vancouver Canucks

Jannik Hansen returns as struggling San Jose Sharks visit Vancouver Canucks
April 2, 2017, 2:22 PM ET [219 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Sunday April 2 - Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet

Vancouver Canucks: 77 GP, 30-38-9, 69 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
San Jose Sharks: 78 GP, 43-28-7, third in Pacific Division

Who do you plan to cheer for in the playoffs?

I haven't hitched my cart to a playoff team yet. As a Canucks fan, it's practical to root for the San Jose Sharks, since Vancouver will receive their first-round draft pick if they win they Stanley Cup.

But I have a hard time supporting other teams that are fellow members of the "Never Won a Cup" club. As Canucks fans keep waiting for our moment of glory, I'd find it painful to watch a first Cup be awarded this year to San Jose, Minnesota, St. Louis, Nashville, Washington, Columbus or Ottawa.

After looking like the class of the Western Conference for much of the season, last year's finalists from San Jose have hit a rough patch. Since March 16, San Jose is 1-8-0. Heck, even Vancouver is 2-6-0 over that same stretch!

The Sharks were airtight defensively for much of the season—up till March 15, they were second in the league with 158 goals allowed in 69 games, or 2.28 goals per game.

In this nasty stretch, they've given up 35 goals in nine games. That's 3.89 goals against per game—second-worst in the league, only better than Colorado. Vancouver has surrendered 24 goals in eight games during that stretch—middle of the pack, actually—tied for 16th with Boston and the Islanders at 3.00 goals against per game.

I wonder if the Sharks' key players are hitting the wall after a long, successful run in 2015-16. After San Jose beat Vancouver 3-1 on March 2 in San Jose, Brent Burns was tied for fourth in the league scoring race with 27 goals and 66 points. He went just 1-5-6 in 15 games over the rest of the month.

Burns is still in the top 10 in league scoring, but his 73 points have him 21 points behind league leader Connor McDavid and just five point ahead of Erik Karlsson as the top-scoring defenseman—and Karlsson has missed Ottawa's last two games with a lower-body injury!

The Sharks have been trying to integrate their backup goaltender Aaron Dell into the mix. After appearing in just 11 games up till the end of February, Dell has made seven appearances in March and—other than giving up six goals to Dallas on March 24—his performance has been pretty good. He now boasts a .930 save percentage and 2.06 goals-against average, while starter Martin Jones has ballooned to 2.42 and .910 after going 3-7-0 in March, with a 3.14 goals-against and an .885 save percentage.

All that being said, San Jose has gone 3-0 against the Canucks this year and hasn't lost a game at Rogers Arena since January 21, 2012. Today's game is the first of a home-and-home that could help the Sharks get back into the battle for top spot in the Pacific Division—they fell to third place this week and are now four points behind both Anaheim and Edmonton.

One thing I love about the current standings: if the playoffs were to start today, we'd have the Alberta teams and the California teams playing each other in the first round. I want that!

The Sharks arrive in Vancouver after back-to-back losses in Alberta—to Edmonton on Thursday and to Calgary on Friday. Joel Ward and Joonas Donskoi both sat out against the Flames, on the second half of the back-to-back. The Sharks aren't skating today, so there's no word on whether they'll be in the lineup, or who starts in goal. Jones played Thursday, then played the first two periods in Calgary on Friday before being pulled in favour of Dell in the third.