San Jose begins playoffs at Edmonton, 7 p.m. Wednesday, NBCSCA, USA Net
On the eve of the Sharks’ playoff opener, the status of Joe Thornton and Logan Couture, two of their best players, remained the same.
“Both of those guys, like I’ve said all along, are day-today,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said Tuesday. “They both looked good at practice, but that will be a game-time decision.”
That decision comes Wednesday when the Sharks meet the Oilers in Edmonton in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series.
The Sharks are the defending Western Conference champions, but stumbled into the playoffs. Even after having won three of their final four games, San Jose lost nine of its last 13.
By contrast, the Oilers — returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 — won 12 of their final 14 regular-season games for head coach Todd McLellan, the former Sharks head coach, to finish with 103 points. The last time Edmonton topped 100 points was 1986-87 when Wayne Gretzky was plying his trade and the Oilers won the third of their five Stanley Cup titles.
Led by regular-season scoring champion Connor McDavid (30 goals, 70 assists), the Oilers are young, speedy and dynamic. They finished in the top five in power-play percentage and top 10 in goals per game in the league during the regular season.
When asked about the challenges the Oilers present, DeBoer was quick to cite their qualities.
“They’ve won 12 of their last 14 games. They’ve got great starting goaltending ... good power play,” he said. “There are a lot of different things that they do well. It’s a great challenge for us.”
Thornton, who sustained a left knee injury this month, and Couture, who took a deflected puck to the mouth in late March, each practiced for the second consecutive day.
Thornton glided onto the practice ice wearing an orange jersey — which indicated that he could be a possible scratch for Game 1 — and didn’t appear in the second practice session.
“Work-to-rest ratio they call it,” Thornton said. “But when I was out there, I felt good, so that’s a good sign.”
Couture, who wore a protective cage around his face, appeared in a white jersey during the first practice session, which suggests he could be on the team’s top line. He also appeared on the ice for the second session.
When asked whether he felt he made progress at Tuesday’s practice, Couture said he felt the same as he had Monday. He gave no indication of whether he’d play in Game 1, but did mention the benefit of practicing on backto-back days.
“I’m happy to be out there with the team. It feels like guys are moving pretty good.”
Regardless of who plays, the Sharks must bolster their offense to compete with the Oilers, particularly on the power play.
San Jose ranked 25th with a man advantage (16.7 percent) and was 19th in goals per game (2.67).
“We’re not proud of the numbers in the regular season,” Couture added. “It’s the time of the year the power play really counts. We can change it all now with a good power play headed into the postseason. So that’s what we’re going to try to do.”