(Sports Network) - The surging Vancouver Canucks will try to close out a five-game homestand on a high note when they welcome the first-place San Jose Sharks for a showdown at General Motors Place.
Vancouver has won two straight and four of its last five and is coming off another strong offensive performance on Saturday night. The Canucks pounded the visiting Edmonton Oilers, 7-3, giving the club 24 goals over the last five games, a stretch that includes a 1-0 shutout loss against Chicago.
Robert Luongo stopped 31-of-34 shots, while seven different players scored for Vancouver in the rout of the Oilers. Mason Raymond and Alexander Edler each had a goal and two assists for the Canucks. Christian Ehrhoff and Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist apiece.
Alexandre Burrows, Tanner Glass, and Mikael Samuelsson also lit the lamp for Vancouver, which fired 35 shots on net, including 16 during a five-goal first period. The Canucks went 4-for-5 on the power play.
"We jumped on them pretty hard at the beginning, got a lot of pucks on their net and our power play was real good so we had a real good start. Anytime you score the number of goals that we did in the first period in this league, it's a real good start," said Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault.
The Canucks are 3-1-0 on the homestand and have an overall 10-3-0 record at GM Place this season. Next up for Vancouver is a four-game road trip, which will begin Wednesday in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, the Sharks, who lead the Pacific Division and the Western Conference with 38 points, have won three of their last four games and are coming off an exciting win Friday in Edmonton.
Joe Pavelski notched the winner in the shootout and Patrick Marleau recorded his first hat trick of the season as San Jose clipped the Oilers, 5-4, at Rexall Place. The game was tied at 1-1 after two periods, but the teams combined for six goals in a thrilling third stanza.
Pavelski closed out the second round of the shootout with a sharp wrister inside the left post. Edmonton's Dustin Penner could have kept the session going but Evgeni Nabokov came up with a sliding glove save to end the contest.
Marleau's third career trifecta included the tying goal late in regulation for the Sharks. Ryane Clowe added the other tally and Joe Thornton collected three assists in the win.
Nabokov recorded his league-leading 15th win of the season after making 29 saves.
The Sharks are 10-5-2 as the visiting team this year and are capping a brief two-game road trip tonight.
Head coach Todd McLellan could have captain Rob Blake at his disposal tonight as the veteran defenseman is expected to be activated off injured reserve prior to this evening's tilt. Blake, who has one goal and five assists this year, has missed the last 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi is also expected to be activated off IR in time for tonight's game. Setoguchi, who has eight goals and two assists this season, has sat out the last five games with a leg injury.
San Jose won three of the four meetings with the Canucks last season and has taken 10 of the last 14 encounters between the clubs. The Sharks have also come out on top in five of their last seven games in Vancouver.