Vancouver finally ended its 10-game losing streak by scoring six times in Anaheim. The celebration came with a familiar concern, though: the Canucks still allowed five goals and needed a dramatic late rally. Thursday’s visit to San Jose tests whether that offensive breakthrough can become a more sustainable performance. The Sharks are favorites after a shutout loss of their own, making this a matchup where the latest win and loss each need a closer look.
What Vancouver can take from the comeback
The Canucks trailed 5-2 with 7:37 left in regulation Tuesday. Jamie Oleksiak started the response, Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored twice, and Filip Hronek won it with a power-play goal in overtime. Vancouver scored the final four goals of the 6-5 victory.
That was a striking change from the nine games immediately before it, when Vancouver scored between one and three goals each time. Lekkerimaki’s two late goals and Hronek’s winner give the Canucks specific contributions to build on, rather than just the relief of seeing the streak end.
The defensive issue remains visible in the same results. Vancouver has allowed at least three goals in every game across its last 10 this season, winning only the latest one. Leevi Merilainen, the expected goalie Thursday, has allowed 20 goals on 177 shots across his latest five completed appearances this season, a .887 save percentage. Another offensive recovery would be harder to rely on if the Canucks again spend most of the night chasing a large deficit.
San Jose needs to support its saves
Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves Tuesday, but San Jose lost 2-0 to Buffalo. Only one goal went past him; the other was an empty-netter. Colten Ellis stopped the Sharks’ 23 shots. The result was a scoring failure despite a busy night from Askarov.
The Sharks had scored four, six and four goals in the three games before that blank. Their attack has shown a higher recent ceiling, but the personnel picture matters: Alexander Wennberg and Igor Chernyshov are on injured reserve with upper-body injuries, according to Wednesday afternoon’s updates. Both were absent Tuesday, when San Jose shuffled its forward lines.
Askarov is expected again and has a .918 save percentage over his latest five appearances this season. He allowed just five goals on 113 shots across the latest three of those outings. That recent work gives the Sharks a meaningful counterweight to Vancouver’s sudden scoring burst, although both expected goalies remain unconfirmed starters.
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The favorite still has a scoring job to do
DraftKings has San Jose at -185 and Vancouver at +154. The Sharks have won four of their last 10 games this season, compared with one for the Canucks. That gives the favorite a stronger recent results base, but Tuesday also showed how much work its goalie can do without getting a win in return.
The 6.5 total presents competing signals. Vancouver’s repeated goals allowed and six-goal comeback, along with San Jose’s production before the Buffalo loss, make a scoring recovery plausible. But Askarov’s recent saves, the Sharks’ latest blank and Vancouver’s longer run of modest scoring all restrain the case for simply carrying Tuesday’s 11-goal game forward.
Seven of San Jose’s 13 games this season went Over their respective totals. The latest 10 games this season for each team split five Overs and five Unders at their respective totals, despite the very different paths those games took. The scores and goalie performances provide more useful context than the frequency alone.
Vancouver’s win demonstrated a capacity to recover, not yet an ability to avoid the deficit. San Jose’s stronger recent goalie sample gives it something concrete to build around, but its forwards must provide more than they did against Buffalo. For the moneyline and total, watch the difference between creating a late surge and sustaining enough offense without repeatedly needing one.
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