Case of mumps wallops Canucks
With at least 4 players out vs. San Jose due to disease, Vancouver is scrambling
SAN JOSE — The stretch run for the Pacific Division-leading Sharks will begin Saturday night against a Vancouver Canucks team that is dealing with some unexpected adversity.
Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Friday afternoon that defenseman Troy Stecher has a confirmed case of the mumps and that Chris Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin, Mike Chaput and Markus Granlund have each presented symptoms of the highly contagious disease.
Sportsnet in Canada reported that Stecher, Tryamkin, Chaput and Granlund will be out of the Canucks’ lineup against the Sharks. Tanev’s availability is still questionable.
Benning later told reporters that the Canucks are calling up forward Alexandre Grenier and defenseman Evan McEneny for Saturday’s game.
A Canucks news release said, “In keeping with (British Columbia) Centre of Disease Control and Vancouver Coastal Health guidelines, players presenting symptoms are immediately being tested and quarantined in isolation for a five-day period from the onset of symptoms or until test results prove negative.
“Vaccines are also being administered to minimize further risk of contraction along with universal preventative hygiene
measures as recommended by Vancouver Coastal Health including disinfecting all dressing room areas.”
Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said by phone that the NHL has stayed in contact with his team and kept its medical staff up to date about the Canucks’ situation. The Sharks are scheduled to hold a morning skate at Rogers Arena on Saturday morning.
The NHL had an outbreak of mumps cases early in the 2014-15 season. No Sharks players were affected at that time.
Saturday’s game is the first for both teams following a league-mandated five-day break.
Both teams last played Sunday, with the Sharks losing 2-1 in overtime to Boston and the Canucks losing 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Sharks have 77 points and a three-point lead the Pacific Division over both Edmonton and Anaheim.
The Sharks were instructed by coach Pete DeBoer to get some rest before the start of their five-day break. There won’t be many opportunities to decompress from here on out.
After Saturday, the Sharks play 21 games in 42 days, with games on back-to-back nights five times. Thirteen of their remaining games are games are against teams that, as of early Friday, were in a playoff position.
“You have the time off, so you’ve got to make the most of it,” Sharks forward Patrick Marleau said last week. “Get your rest, along with keeping the engine going a little bit. There’s a fine line there, but we’ll do our best to be ready.”
The Sharks are 18-7-4 at SAP Center this season, and DeBoer has stated the importance of having homeice advantage in the playoffs for as long as possible.
“There’s no hiding from that fact,” DeBoer said of the team’s Stanley Cup aspirations. “We all know the expectation around here, and that starts in our dressing room.
“But you don’t give yourself a chance to play in those situations unless you take care of business in the moment.”
Starting Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers will have 20 games left, including 13 at home. The Anaheim Ducks also have 20 games left, with 12 at home.
The Sharks have games in hand on the Oilers and Ducks, but that doesn’t guarantee much.
“As a coach, you have one eye on the end and the playoffs. But you have to stay in the moment,” DeBoer said. “This is a league where you drop three or four or five games and everything changes. We’ve worked hard to this point to put ourselves in a good spot.”
No one knows for sure how the Sharks will come out of their break.
They almost all agreed, though, that it came at a good time — both from a physical and mental standpoint — particularly after they went 4-1-5 through the first three weeks of February.
“It’s about as good as you can ask for,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “You get your all-star break, you get your Christmas break. A few weeks later, we get this one. We’ve got a busy schedule coming up. On a nightly basis, you show up, you keep trying to build your game and get ready for the playoffs.”
As of early Friday, NHL teams were 4-12-4 in their first game back after the CBA-mandated layoff, so there’s bound to be a bit of rust. The Sharks did not practice Friday before they left for Vancouver.
It’s less of a factor for the Sharks than some other teams, though, as the Canucks are also coming off a five-day break.
“We’ve seen some tough games by those teams coming off the bye week, with their record, anyway,” Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. “That’s a long time to be off to be playing games. But it’ll give us some rest coming into this push to the end of the season.”