Gambrell gets back on the ice following injury
SAN JOSE » The Sharks have their top six defensemen ready and available at the moment after Radim Simek returned to the lineup earlier this week. Now coach Pete DeBoer is getting closer to having a full complement of forwards at his disposal, as well.
Melker Karlsson remains out with an upper body injury, but center Dylan Gambrell, who had missed the last three games with a hand injury, returned Thursday night as the Sharks hosted the Minnesota Wild in their fourth game of six- game homestand.
With the Sharks trying to rejoin the pack in the Pacific Division standings, every little bit helps.
Gambrell was injured in the first period of the Sharks’ 5-1 loss to Boston on Oct. 29, as he blocked a Charlie McAvoy shot on a
Bruins power play.
The Sharks haven’t had all of their top forwards available at the same time very often season. Karlsson was injured in Saturday’s game with Vancouver and is considered day-to- day.
Perhaps more precisely, the Sharks have rarely had all of their forwards slotted in proper spots.
Evander Kane started the year with a three-game suspension and that was followed by Marcus Sorensen missing three games with an injury.
That forced others such as Lean Bergmann, Danil Yurtaykin and Lukas Radil — all players better suited for depth roles right now — to punch above their weight classes in top nine forward roles. Yurtaykin didn’t have a point in four games for the Sharks this season before he was reassigned to the Barracuda on Oct. 18.
Gambrell’s return allowed Gregor to move to the wing on the fourth line and keep Goodrow in a top six forward role. Goodrow again played with Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier against the Wild. Tuesday against Chicago, the trio combined for six points. Goodrow has seven points this season, tied for fourthmost among all Sharks forwards.
Gambrell, Gregor and Bergmann were on the fourth line Thursday, playing in roles that gave them the greatest chance to succeed.
Even the third line has a more appropriate look right now with Joe Thornton centering a line with Patrick Marleau and Marcus Sorensen.
Marleau had been on the Sharks’ top line with Logan Couture for 11 games before he played with Thornton and Sorensen on Tuesday. After the game, DeBoer said he liked the look of that line, as Marleau and Sorensen combined for six shots on goal.
The Sharks on Thursday were looking to win consecutive games for the first time since they strung together victories over Chicago, Calgary and Carolina from Oct. 10-16.
The Sharks entered Thursday in seventh place in the Pacific Division, eight points back of sixth place Anaheim and 11 back of first place Edmonton.
“For me, we played (our) two best games of the year out of the last three,” DeBoer said of the Sharks’ games against Winnipeg on Nov. 1 and Chicago. “We’ve got to start to replicate those type of performances night in and night out.
“Like I told the group, it felt good last game because we put the work in and everybody was pulling in the same direction. We’ve got to do that again.”
• Simek played alongside Brent Burns again Thursday with Marc-Edouard Vlasic skating alongside Erik Karlsson. That again left two left- shot defensemen — Mario Ferraro and Brenden Dillon — on the third pair.
Ferraro and Dillon seemed to work well together Tuesday, and it appears they’ll remain together for the time being even after Dalton Prout and Jacob Middleton are able to return from their injuries.
“In a perfect world, you’d have lefty-righty, but we’re playing our six best guys. I thought ( Ferraro) did a good job on his off side for a young guy,” DeBoer said. “When we were talking to the group about who was comfortable there, he immediately volunteered, which says a lot about his confidence.”