Thornton’s misconduct ‘overblown’
DeBoer questions major penalty call against star, who could still face a fine
SAN JOSE — Sharks coach Pete DeBoer felt the five-minute major penalty and the game misconduct given to Joe Thornton for spearing St. Louis Blues center Paul Stastny was in disproportion to what actually happened on the ice.
“Stastny gave him a whack and (Thornton) gave him a poke. I think it’s overblown,” DeBoer said of Saturday’s second period incident. “That type of thing happens pretty regularly out there on the ice and they chose to call a (game misconduct) and a five-minute major on it.
“I don’t have an answer why. Could it be? Probably by the book it is, but I think that happens more often than people know out there.”
Thornton’s game misconduct, the fourth in 878 games with the Sharks, came at the 11:09 mark of the second period of what became a 4-0 loss to the Blues.
Thornton, it appears, will not face a suspension as the NHL’s Department of Player Safety had not used its Twitter
account to announce any disciplinary hearing for Thornton with the league. The Sharks also host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday afternoon, a timetable that presumably would have expedited any further discipline.
A fine is still possible, though.
On Dec. 16, Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, by the NHL for “dangerous use of the stick” for an incident involving Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson two days earlier. The announcement was made just hours before the Sharks played the Montreal Canadiens.
Thornton wasn’t available to speak to reporters Sunday as the Sharks held an optional practice.
The Sharks unmistakably felt the void after Thornton was out of uniform Saturday.
The Sharks trailed by two goals when Thornton was ejected, and managed just six shots on net when the play was 5 on 5 the rest of the way.
“You definitely see his value when he leaves our lineup,” DeBoer said. “He creates, he makes other people better. He’s still got great legs both ways. Plays a 200-foot game for us. We miss him and when he’s not out there, you can see that.”
Thornton has 41 penalty minutes so far this season, second most on the Sharks behind Micheal Haley’s 41.
Forward Tomas Hertl, n out for the last two months with a right knee sprain, participated in Sunday’s optional skate and is hoping he can take part in full practices with contact in the near future.
Hertl has been a light participant in some recent practices, doing mainly shooting and skating drills, and is eager to step take the intensity up a notch. Hertl hasn’t played since Nov. 17.
“Every day it’s better and stronger. Now it’s almost full practices. Next week hopefully, full practices with contact,” Hertl said. “We’ll see next week if I can start more pushing, more battles. It’s mostly coming back pretty fast now.
“I feel pretty good. I don’t want to skate anymore. I’m over it. I want to just play. It’s more fun than just skating (alone) on the ice and with no pucks and no goalie on the ice.”
As of now, the Sharks are scheduled to practice Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, their last three practices before the all-star break starts Jan. 27.
Joonas Donskoi also skated Sunday but remains day to day with an upper body injury he suffered during Wednesday’s game against Calgary.