Applying for tourist visa before express entry

[salilkuk]

Hello folks,

I currently live in the US on H1B and my Visa will expire by the end of September, 2018. I was thinking about applying for express entry to Canada and I had a couple of questions:

1. If I apply for a tourist visa, will they deny it because my current US Visa is about to expire? I have more than sufficient funds to show for my travel.
   
   
2. If I was granted a tourist visa and I traveled to Canada for a few months, will it affect my express entry application?
   

My general idea was to travel to Canada on a tourist visa and start searching for a job while my express entry gets completed.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!