The Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks are two teams going in very different directions in 2023-24 — and that was on full display on Thursday night.

The Canucks tattooed the Sharks for double digits in a 10-1 shellacking of their Pacific Division counterparts. It was the sixth straight time Vancouver has beaten San Jose, and dropped California's worst team to 0-9-1.

“We were ready to go from the get-go and we stuck with it,” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said after padding the stats to the tune of a goal and four assists. “We weren’t too loose.”

The Nucks certainly didn't look loose, dominating right from the start and scoring four goals before the game was 20 minutes old. It was the fifth win in six tries for the British Columbia-based franchise, vaulting them to 7-2-1 — good enough for third place in the Western Conference.

Head coach Rick Tocchet was happy the team was able to comfortably roll four lines, including getting some different looks, on Thursday.

“It was nice to get some other guys playing a lot that don’t usually play this much, and also getting some offense from those guys,” the bench boss explained. “Hopefully that'll get them confidence down the road.”

The tank continues for Sharks

It was all positive for Vancouver, who is legitimately looking like one of the top teams in the Western Conference. For San Jose, the tank has already begun for a team that remains without a win this season.

“Just really, really disappointing,” Sharks coach David Quinn said about another loss. “We took a big step back tonight. We’re going to find out an awful lot about individuals moving forward over the next few days.”

“The one good thing is that this is about as low as it’s going to get,” Sharks forward Nico Sturm echoed. “So I suppose that’s the only positive in this situation.”

Another positive is that San Jose is likely to be in last place all season, and will have a great opportunity to select No. 1 overall at the 2024 NHL Draft.

For Quinn Hughes and the Canucks, they'll look to keep things rolling when the Dallas Stars are in town on Saturday night.