Canucks vs Sharks game day preview After collecting three of a possible four points in Southern California, the Vancouver Canucks (8-3-2) head north to face the San Jose Sharks (4-9-1) at SAP Center tonight.

SAN JOSE – After collecting three of a possible four points in Southern California, the Vancouver Canucks (8-3-2) head north to face the San Jose Sharks (4-9-1) at SAP Center tonight.

The Canucks fell 2-1 in overtime last night in Anaheim when Ryan Getzlaf netted the winner on a breakaway. After Jakub Silfverberg opened the scoring with a short-handed goal midway through the first period, Adam Gaudette scored his first goal of the season late in the third period to push the game to OT. The Canucks held a 40-29 edge in shots on goal on the night although the Ducks were responsible for three of the five shots in overtime.

The Canucks are holding their breath that rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes is a quick healer. The defenseman suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the first period and did not finish the game. He will be re-evaluated by the team’s medical staff in San Jose today and his status for tonight’s game is unknown at this point. Oscar Fantenberg has been recalled from his conditioning stint in Utica while Ashton Sautner had been the extra blueliner on the road trip. One of those two will be pressed into action if Hughes is unable to go tonight.

Sven Baertschi is also on the road trip and could be inserted to make his Canucks season debut. Both Jake Virtanen and Loui Eriksson were limited participants last night in Anaheim playing 7:59 and 8:22 respectively. Each player saw less than a minute of third period ice time with the Canucks trailing and pushing for the equalizer. Virtanen saw just two shifts over the second half of the hockey game and logged a season-low 7:59 on the night.

At the other end of the spectrum, Alex Edler played a season-high 30:25 which included a whopping 12:12 of the third period. Elias Pettersson saw his five game scoring streak come to an end last night. He had 2+10=12 in his previous five outings.

After watching the past two games from the bench, Thatcher Demko is likely to get the start tonight against the Sharks. He was solid in his last outing in Monday’s 7-2 win over Florida. Demko has yet to allow more than three goals in any of his four starts so far this season.

Despite the loss last night, the Canucks have picked up points in six straight games (4-0-2).

The struggling Sharks set a season-high with 53 shots on goal last night, but still fell 3-2 to the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Barclay Goodrow and Tomas Hertl had the San Jose goals while Martin Jones stopped 16 of the 19 shots he faced in goal.

With back to back games, it’s quite possible Aaron Dell will get the call between the pipes tonight.

Last night’s setback was the Sharks fourth straight loss and the team has just one win in its past seven outings (1-4-2). This is now the club’s second four-game losing skid of the season (with all losses in regulation time). Only Los Angeles and Detroit have surrendered more goals so far this season than the Sharks and only the Kings and Wings have a poorer goal differential than San Jose at -17. As well, only New Jersey has a lower 5-on-5 team save percentage than San Jose’s 88.1%.

Evander Kane leads all San Jose scorers with seven goals while Brent Burns is the team’s top point producer with 3+10=13. Captain Logan Couture has just one goal 14 games into the season and it came 11 games ago. Erik Karlsson also has just one goal in the early going to go along with nine assists.

The one area where things have gone well for San Jose is on the penalty kill. The Sharks own the league’s best PK percentage at 90.7% -- having given up just five PPG so far this season. After last night, they are a perfect 17 for 17 on home ice.

POSSIBLE CANUCKS LINE-UP

Miller-Pettersson-Boeser

Baertschi-Horvat-Pearson

Leivo-Sutter-Gaudette

Schaller-Beagle-Virtanen

Edler-Myers

Benn-Tanev

Fantenberg-Stecher

Demko

POSSIBLE SHARKS LINE-UP

Marleau-Couture-Meier

Kane-Hertl-Labanc

Sorensen-Thornton-M. Karlsson

Radil-Goodrow-Brodzinksi

Vlasic-Burns

Dillon-E. Karlsson

Ferraro-Heed

Dell