Sharks banged up for Game 6

The San Jose Sharks could be headed into their fifth elimination game of the postseason shorthanded.

The Sharks left town yesterday to play Game 6 of the Western Conference finals at St. Louis tonight with questions about the status of captain Joe Pavelski, highscoring forward Tomas Hertl and playmaking defenseman Erik Karlsson.

Coach Peter DeBoer gave no update on their conditions and didn’t say whether any of the three made the trip to St. Louis. San Jose lost all three stars to injuries during a 5-0 loss at home to the Blues on Sunday that left them trailing the best-ofseven series 3-2.

The Sharks have already staved off elimination four times this postseason, rallying from 3-1 down in a firstround series against Vegas and then winning a seventh game on home ice in the second round against Colorado.

“We’ve dealt with this before,” DeBoer said. “People can write us off, but I know in our room we know we have guys in there who we know can step in and get this done.”

Pulling it off again against a deep and physical Blues team could be even more of a challenge, especially if the Sharks are missing pieces.

Karlsson has been dealing with groin injuries since January. He missed 27 of the final 33 regular-season games but returned for the start of the playoffs even if he often looked hampered by the injury. Karlsson appeared to be finding his groove, scoring two goals, including the overtime winner, in Game 3 at St. Louis before coming up lame again in the fourth game.

Karlsson played just one shift in the final 9:24 of Game 4 but told DeBoer he was good to go Sunday. He wasn’t moving well early in the game and committed a turnover that led to St. Louis’ first goal. He played just 3:03 in the second period and was unable to accelerate on the play that led to Vladimir Tarasenko’s penalty shot. Karlsson then didn’t come back out for the third.

If Karlsson is unable to go, Tim Heed will likely get his first action since filling in for an injured Marc-Edouard Vlasic in Games 3 and 4 of the opening round.

Hertl was hit high in the first period by Ivan Barbashev in a play the Sharks believe should have been penalized as an illegal hit to the head. He remained in the game through the second period but also didn’t come out for the third.

Pavelski dealt with yet another injury early in the third when Alex Pietrangelo sent him into the boards and appeared to hit him high.