NHL Gameday: Sorensen gets a chance; Dell starting for Sharks

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Programming note – Sharks-Canucks coverage starts today at 7:00 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 37-18-7, 81 points, 1st Pacific Division
Canucks: 26-29-7, 59 points, 6th Pacific Division

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***Neither Jannik Hansen nor Nikolay Goldobin will face their former teams despite the trade that went down on Tuesday, as both are dealing with the paperwork of being employed in a new country.

“It’s an immigration thing,” Pete DeBoer said. “I’ve seen it take a few days, I’ve seen it take a week. So, I don’t know [when Hansen will play].”

DeBoer spoke to Hansen on Wednesday, and said: “He’s ready to get in here and get to work as soon as he can.”

***After his strong game on Tuesday against Toronto in which he registered three shots on goal, rookie Marcus Sorensen will get an opportunity to remain on the third line with Tomas Hertl and Joel Ward, where he spent the third period against the Maple Leafs.

The 24-year-old winger’s development is one reason that Goldobin became expendable. He was asked how he’s improved since training camp.

“I have learned to play in this rink,” Sorensen said. “This size is pretty difficult. It’s a big difference between European size and American size, so, so far so good.”

DeBoer said: “I thought he played great last game. First game I thought he was like a lot of young guys, kind of feeling his way. I thought last game he just played, he didn’t overthink it. Played his game [and] was very effective.”

***Aaron Dell gets the call in net, a good indication that his workload is about to increase after Martin Jones started 52 of the first 62 games. The Sharks have a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday in Minnesota and Winnipeg, so it’s likely Dell gets that second game against the Jets, too.

San Jose has 20 games remaining in just a 38-day span.

“We have a lot of games coming up in a short amount of time, so I think my role is going to be a little bit bigger the rest of the way out,” Dell said.

Dell, 7-3-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .934 SP, has allowed two of fewer goals in seven of his 10 starts.

“I felt like I’ve gotten a little better every game I’ve played, so hopefully that continues,” he said.

***The Sharks bring a 4-0-3 mark in their last seven games into tonight, including a 4-1 win in Vancouver on Saturday. The Canucks have lost five of their last six (1-4-1).

With a win tonight, the Sharks would open up a seven-point lead on Edmonton and a nine-point lead on Anaheim, both of which are idle. Vancouver has won six straight games in San Jose, while the Sharks have nine wins in a row in British Columbia.
 
KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Brenden Dillon. A Vancouver native, Dillon scored the tying goal on Tuesday night in the Sharks’ 3-1 win over Toronto, cleanly beating Frederik Andersen with a hard slapper. Against Vancouver on Saturday, he dropped the gloves to fight the Canucks’ Joe Labate after Labate ran Melker Karlsson. Dillon has a plus-four rating over his last four games, and is second on the team with 51 penalty minutes.

Canucks: Markus Granlund. The winger is likely to remain on Vancouver’s top line with the Sedin twins. Granlund, a 23-year-old former second round pick, has already set a career high in goals (16) and points (27). He has one goal in each of his last two games, sandwiched around the Sharks game on Feb. 25, which he missed due to illness.

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Kevin Labanc – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Mikkel Boedker
Marcus Sorensen – Tomas Hertl – Joel Ward
Micheal Haley – Chris Tierney – Melker Karlsson

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – David Schlemko

Aaron Dell (starter)
Martin Jones

Canucks
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Markus Granlund
Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Loui Eriksson
Brendan Gaunce – Brandon Sutter – Jayson Megna
Joe Cramarossa – Michael Chaput – Reid Boucher

Alex Edler – Troy Stecher
Luca Sbisa – Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton – Alex Biega

Ryan Miller
Jacob Markstrom

INJURIES

Sharks: Joonas Donskoi (upper body) and Dylan DeMelo (broken wrist) are out.

Canucks: Nikita Tryamkin (illness), Jack Skille (undisclosed), Derek Dorsett (back surgery), Erik Gudbranson (wrist) and Anton Rodin (knee) are out.

QUOTEABLE

“I was trying to play hard, and get the puck to the net, help my linemates to create some offense and use my speed.” – Marcus Sorensen, on his performance against Toronto on Tuesday

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