Pavelski back skating, return against Avs possible.
DENVER >> Joe Pavelski is making enough progress from the head injury he suffered April 23 that coach Pete DeBoer isn’t ruling out a return for the Sharks captain at some point in their series against the Colorado Avalanche.
DeBoer said Pavelski was to begin skating again Wednesday in San Jose for the first time since his injury.
Pavelski suffered the injury in the third period of Game 7 of the Sharks’ series against the Vegas Golden Knights. He was around the team in San Jose the days after the incident but he and Joonas Donskoi stayed back in the Bay Area when the Sharks traveled to Denver.
The Sharks won Game 3 on Tuesday 4-2, with Logan Couture recording a hat trick and Timo Meier adding a goal and two assists, and will take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 today in Denver.
“He was facetiming us after the game last night, so he’s feeling better,” DeBoer said as the Sharks went through an optional skate Wednesday at Denver University. “We’re all excited about the progress he’s making. I wouldn’t say he’s not going to be available, no.”
Pavelski had been termed day-to-day since the start of the series with the Avalanche.
Donskoi, who hasn’t played since Game 6 against the Golden Knights on April 21, has been skating regularly but does not have a timetable for a return.
Game 5 is on Saturday at SAP Center. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, would be Monday in Denver and Wednesday in San Jose, respectively.
“We’re trying to win as many games as we can so we can see him back on the ice,” Sharks center Joe Thornton said after Game 1, a 5-2 San Jose victory, last Friday.
• Gus Nyquist was back on somewhat of a normal schedule Wednesday after the birth of his first child, daughter Charlotte, two days earlier. Nyquist flew from the Bay Area to Michigan on Sunday night and was in Detroit in plenty of time before his wife, Danielle, went into labor. Nyquist flew to Denver on Tuesday morning and had two assists in Game 3, a 4-2 Sharks win.
“Everything was planned,” Nyquist said about the delivery. “Coming in the same day, it was what it was. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the family back home, and it was nice to finish off the day with a big win.”
• The Sharks are 1 for 8 with the man advantage in the first three games against Colorado, with just a combined four shots on net.
“We haven’t entered cleanly. I thought we did a decent job of that last night,” Couture said. “We had enough looks at their net. Second chances, we seemed to shoot it and they cleared. Too much one and done. It’s something we need to improve on.”
• DeBoer has liked what he’s seen from Micheal Haley in his first two games back from a lower body injury that caused him to miss the last four games of the first round and Game 1 against the Avalanche.
“He’s been physical. He’s been hard to play against. He’s reliable,” DeBoer said. “The speed of the game hasn’t been an issue for him. I think he’s been fantastic.”
Haley played 4:47 in Game 2 and 7:29 on Tuesday, when he drew a penalty on Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole in the second period. He and linemates Barclay Goodrow and Melker Karlsson had a big advantage in possession numbers, even in limited minutes.