Donskoi, Boedker nearing return to Sharks’ lineup
Donskoi, Boedker practice before three-game road trip
SAN JOSE >> The Sharks feel they’ll have four forward lines that can generate offense if and when they can get past some of the injury woes they’re experiencing right now.
The Sharks took a step in that direction Tuesday as injured forwards Joonas Donskoi and Mikkel Boedker both went through practice in non-contact jerseys, taking turns on the wing of the third line with Chris Tierney and Timo Meier.
Donskoi’s and Boedker’s availability for Thursday’s game in Calgary remains unknown. Both will likely skate again today before the Sharks leave to begin an important three-game road trip against Western Canadian teams.
Ryan Carpenter was placed on waivers Tuesday and Barclay Goodrow remains sidelined with a lower body injury, so the Sharks, after the recall of center Danny O’Regan from the Barracuda, have 12 healthy and available forwards with Boedker and Donskoi’s availability Thursday still in question.
“We’re surviving this, but we’ve had more than out share of injuries,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’d like to come out the other side healthy for a little while.”
It was the first time Boedker had skated in a full practice since he was hurt on Dec. 1 in a game against Florida. It was Donskoi’s second practice as continues to recover from an injury to his midsection after he was crosschecked by Michael Raffl in the Sharks’ game against Philadelphia on Nov. 28.
“It’s good. I’m getting close and I think I’m getting ready to play soon,” Donskoi said.
The Sharks have gone 3-2-1 without Donskoi as Brent Burns, Logan Couture and a revitalized power play have helped San Jose weather the injury bug.
In the four games prior to the injury, Donskoi had two goals and two assists as he and linemates Couture and Tomas Hertl were driving a good portion of the Sharks offense.
“It’s been frustrating, I’m not going to lie,” Donskoi said. “My body felt good, so it wasn’t a good moment to
get out. But that’s how it is sometimes and it was good that it wasn’t too serious. I’ll be ready to play soon.”
While the Sharks’ 13 goals on their homestand represented a season-best over a three-game span, they needed major comebacks to beat Carolina in overtime and earn a point against Minnesota. Entering Tuesday, the Sharks were in third place in the Pacific Division with 35 points.
“The message today was we showed a lot of resiliency this weekend, a lot of character coming back. But we can’t put ourselves in 3-0 holes and expect to win games,” DeBoer said. “We found a way to score more goals, offensively we’ve looked more dangerous on the power play and 5 on 5.
“But you can’t lose that defensive foundation. In both of those games where we got behind by three, we were a little too loose defensively.”
• Teams have 24 hours to claim Carpenter, or he will be assigned to the Barracuda.
Carpenter, 26, was signed to a twoyear contract by the Sharks in June after he helped the Barracuda advance to the Western Conference finals of the Calder Cup playoffs. He began the season with the Sharks but had just one assist in 16 games, and struggled to
maintain his spot in the lineup as the fourth line center.
“Sometimes you need to take a step back in order to move forward,” DeBoer said. “That’s kind of the case with Ryan. He did some good stuff. But take a step back, find your game again and hopefully next time get back up here and make the most of it.”
Carpenter had a season-low 5:42 of ice time in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild as he didn’t have a shift after the 15:22 mark of the second period.
• Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo said he panicked for a moment when was hit in the face by the stick of forward Alexandre Burrows in the third period of Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. DeMelo suffered a scratched cornea on the play and a cut on his eyebrow where he received a couple of stitches.
Burrows was given a two-minute minor for roughing, a five-minute major for fighting and a game misconduct. Sunday, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety fined Burrows $5,000, the maximum allowable under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association.
“(My vision) was a little blurry at the start and the guys were saying I was bleeding out of my eye,” DeMelo said. “Thankfully it wasn’t anything too serious. The league took care of it and did what they felt was necessary.”