Sharks get mixed news on injuries
SAN JOSE >> The San Jose Sharks could be getting some injured players back just as they begin a stretch of games against other Western Conference teams.
Defenseman Mario Ferraro, out for the last three weeks with a lower-body injury, practiced Thursday and might be available to return at some point this weekend when the Sharks (10-165) play back-to-back games, coach David Quinn said.
Quinn also said injured wingers Matt Nieto and Alexander Barabanov, out with lower-body ailments, are also trending in the right direction.
Nieto and Barabanov did not practice with the team Thursday but are slated to practice today, with Quinn saying he “felt good” that both players could be available to play either Saturday in Los Angeles or Sunday at home against Calgary.
Nieto has missed the last three games after he absorbed a big hit from Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin on Dec. 4, and Barabanov was a late scratch from Tuesday’s Sharks game with the Arizona Coyotes.
The Sharks’ next four games before Christmas are all against teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.
The Kings and the Flames came into Thursday in eighth and ninth place, respectively, in the West in terms of points percentage. The Sharks, 14th in the West, also host the Flames on Tuesday, and the Minnesota Wild,
who are sixth in the conference, next Thursday.
Quinn said forward Luke Kunin, who was injured on his first shift in Tuesday’s 3-2 Sharks win over the Coyotes, will not play this weekend. Kunin, out with a lower-body injury, could be a candidate to go on IR to help free up a spot on the 23-man roster if Ferraro or Nieto are healthy enough to be activated.
Ferraro, who has averaged roughly 23 minutes of ice time per game, secondmost on the Sharks behind Erik Karlsson (25:06), was
placed on IR on Nov. 26, one day after he blocked a shot in a game against the Kings.
Ferraro said he couldn’t be sure when he might be able to play again. He skated briefly about a week after the blocked shot, but didn’t feel well enough to continue and took some more time off. He’s felt better of late, testing it out again in recent days to the point where he could go through practice.
“I want to make sure that even if I do have pain or don’t feel 100 percent, that I can still give it 100 percent,” Ferraro said.
The Sharks so far have a 3-3-2 record in Ferraro’s absence. Nick Cicek played the first five games that Ferraro was out from Nov. 27 to Dec.
4, and Scott Harrington has played the last three games, collecting a goal and two assists.
GOALIE ROTATION >> James Reimer will start Saturday and Kaapo Kahkonen will start Sunday, Quinn said. Reimer stopped 20 of 22 shots Tuesday, his first game since was injured on Nov. 25 against the Kings.
Reimer has a 5-4-1 record and a .934 save percentage in 11 career games against Los Angeles and Kahkonen is 0-1-0 with a .868 save percentage in two career games against Calgary. It would be Kahkonen’s first start since Dec. 7, when he was pulled after two periods in what became a 6-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.