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Sharks aim to stay hot at home vs. Canucks

Dec 30, 2014 - 4:03 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Jose Sharks hope to avoid their first loss at home in over a month on Tuesday night as they play host to the Vancouver Canucks.

The Sharks are 9-2-1 over their past 12 games, with all three setbacks coming on the road. They have won their past eight home games since a loss to the visiting Calgary Flames on Nov. 26.

San Jose was unable to secure a road victory on Saturday as it fell to the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. Joe Pavelski had the lone goal for the Sharks just 2:39 into the game and Antti Niemi made 26 saves.

Los Angeles scored once each period, getting power-play goals in the second and third to go in front.

"Some of the areas where we could have been better we weren't good enough, like face-offs, those types of things," Pavelski said. "We had some looks there at the end to get ourselves back into it but we didn't capitalize on them. It's a special teams night; they get two (power-play goals) and we get none. That's probably the difference."

The Sharks will visit Anaheim on Wednesday and could have winger Matthew Nieto available tonight. He has not played since Dec. 4 due to an ankle injury and the 22-year-old has potted three goals with six assists in 26 games this season.

Niemi is 9-8-2 in his career versus the Canucks with a 2.66 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Backup Alex Stalock has never started versus Vancouver, but did halt all 21 shots he faced over 33 minutes of relief the only previous time he faced the club.

The Canucks will be looking to rebound tonight after having a two-game winning streak halted with a 2-1 overtime setback to the Ducks on Sunday. Vancouver was held to just 14 shots after having netted 10 goals in its previous two games.

Yannick Weber had his team's goal and Ryan Miller made 29 saves as the Canucks fell to 2-4-2 in their last eight games.

"I thought for a game off a break, the compete was there. We'll clean things up," said Miller. "They're a good team. It's been three tight games so we'll keep working and try to get the better side of it next time."

Miller is 8-1-0 with a 2.15 GAA, .934 save percentage and two shutouts lifetime against the Sharks.

The Sharks have won six of their past eight versus the Canucks, though Vancouver picked up a 3-2 victory in San Jose on Nov. 6 in the first of five meetings. Miller had 34 saves, while Niemi posted 16.