Couture continues to be missed
Center could be out until after Christmas break, leaving Hertl to fill in
SAN JOSE >> Tomas Hertl did not have the most ideal of starts when he filled in for Logan Couture earlier this week as the Sharks’ second-line center.
But it was the way Hertl finished Monday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers that’s given the
Sharks some confidence that they can weather Couture’s absence, however long that might be.
Couture did not skate Wednesday and the possibility exists that he may be shut down until after the NHL’s Christmas break to help recover from a concussion. As long as Couture remains out of the lineup, Hertl will have fill the void, continuing with tonight’s home game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Hertl was on the ice for two Oilers even-strength goals in the first period Monday in his first game as a full-time center since the second game of the regular season.
He looked out of place at times, but found more of a rhythm as the game progressed, and later scored his eighth goal of the season in what became a 5-3 loss.
“It was a little bit of a slower start for me,” Hertl said, “but the second and third were pretty good, getting back to being a full-time center. Our line scored two goals. Hopefully (tonight) will be better.”
Hertl will likely start tonight’s game with Melker Karlsson and Kevin Labanc as his wingers.
“Centermen are tasked with driving the line,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “The good thing is he’s done it before. I think it was just a matter of him getting back into the flow of that, and he’ll be fine.”
DeBoer said Wednesday that Couture was progressing but there remains no timetable for a return. The Sharks also host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday before they begin a three-day Christmas break. Their first game after the break is Dec. 28 at home against the Calgary Flames.
“It probably makes the most sense,” DeBoer said when asked if there was a temptation to shut Couture down until after the break. “But we’ll see how he feels (today).”
Hertl’s line will likely skate against Canucks centers
Henrik Sedin or Sam Gagner tonight, and Anze Kopitar on Saturday.
“For sure, I have more goals on the wing because it’s a little bit easier, but I think I’ve had good games as a center, too,” Hertl said. “I just have to be stronger and make sure I have decent (coverage in) the D-zone.
“But I can’t just be thinking about D-zone and be like, ‘Oh, it’s Kopitar,’ because I want to score goals too and make my wingers better too.”
Forward Marcus Sorensen, who skated on the second line in the third period of Monday’s game, skated on the Sharks’ fourth line for Wednesday’s practice.
Still, DeBoer has liked
what he has seen recently from Sorensen and the internal competition for ice time that he’s been able to provide of late.
“He’s doing what he did last year,” DeBoer said. “He’s come up and he’s using his speed, he’s playing inside. He’s a hard guy not to play, and put some other guys on notice up here.
“You can’t take him out of the lineup when him playing the way he does, and it’s for other guys to look in the mirror and make sure it’s not a shock when we don’t take him out of the lineup and someone else comes out.”
It appears Mikkel Boedker will be back in the lineup tonight after he played just 8:17 in the loss to the Oilers.
DeBoer was willing to cut Boedker some slack after the winger had missed seven games with a lowerbody injury and wasn’t quite 100 percent healthy against the Oilers.
Boedker has seven points in 25 games, on pace to pretty much match last season’s anemic output of 26 points in 81 games.
“I think he’s been better this year, but, and it’s a big but, we’ve got to get more production, and he’s not the only guy,” DeBoer said. “But if you play a regular shift, and you play on the power play, you need production. He’s not alone in that, but that’s the bottom line.”
DeBoer said he did not know who his starting goalie would be for tonight’s game.