Pacific division foes meet as the San Jose Sharks take on the Vancouver Canucks. Welcome back to NHL Predictions! Today, like every day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each.

With only two games remaining before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Vancouver Canucks travel down to San Jose for a single-game road trip to battle with the Sharks. Note the 7:30 p.m. PT start time for Thursday night’s game.

Six weeks after he suffered a fractured cheekbone, goalie Vitek Vanecek appears to be getting close to a return as he’s been skating with the Sharks in recent days and, per coach Ryan Warsofsky, is now considered day-to-day,

The Canucks have dominated the Sharks historically, winning nine of the past 10 matchups. That trend should continue against a bad San Jose team that has made itself worse with the departures of Granlund and Ceci, as well as the demotion of their best netminder, Yaroslav Askarov.

SAN JOSE – Instead of airing on NBC Sports California, the San Jose Sharks’ game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday is being shown exclusively on ESPN. The broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. Roxy Bernstein will have the play-by-play, Ray Ferraro is the color analyst, and Leah Hextall is the ice-level reporter.

The Sharks' pool has a star prospect at every position, quality that runs into the double digits and depth well into the teens.

Smith, Walman score back-to-back goals for Sharks lead The San Jose Sharks quickly turned a one-goal advantage into a one-goal lead with back-to-back goals from Jake Walman and Wi