SAN JOSE — The injury bug continues to sweep through the Sharks dressing room as the team attempts to survive a tightly-packed Western Conference playoff race.
Tomas Hertl left the Sharks 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes (15-32-10) at SAP Center Tuesday and did not return after taking a hit into the boards from Nick Cousins that appeared to injure his right shoulder, arm or hand. The 24-year-old forward skated off the ice in the final minute of the first holding his right hand after taking off his right glove.
Head coach Pete DeBoer said the team won’t know the severity of Hertl’s injury until Wednesday.
“It’s a big hole,” the Sharks coach said. “But we’ve got to find a way. We can’t just roll over here. The finish line’s in sight and we’ve got to dig deep, and someone’s got to take those minutes.”
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The Sharks are already trying to make due without center Joe Thornton, who injured his right knee on Jan. 23, and right winger Joel Ward, who suffered a right-shoulder injury on Feb. 8. Forward Marcus Sorensen, who’s played 18 games with the Sharks this season, also went down with an upper-body injury while skating with the AHL Barracuda last weekend.
With so many forwards sidelined by injury, head coach Pete DeBoer moved reigning-Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns back to forward for a large chunk of the third period. Burns skated primarily on Pavelski’s line as the Sharks tried to battle back from a 2-1 deficit in the final stanza.
“I was excited when that happened,” Pavelski said. “He’s been one of my best linemates before, so it’s always fun to get a chance to get up there with him.”
Burns played forward for a significant part of the 2012-13 season and the entire 2013-14 campaign under former-head coach Todd McLellan.
Brent Burns shifting from defense to forward & back like… pic.twitter.com/b2DYg7p0lX
— Pete Jensen 🏒 (@NHLJensen) February 14, 2018
DeBoer isn’t sure whether Burns’ move to forward is a longterm solution to the Sharks depleted depth at forward if Hertl’s injury proves to be significant.
“We were trying to give the team a spark,” he said. “I wanted to give (Pavelski) and (Couture) as much skill around them as we could find. We tried it tonight. We’ll see.”
When asked whether he’d welcome a move to forward if the Sharks need him to skate up front, Burns said: “what else you got? Anything? We good?
“We just do what we can to win.”
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The Sharks latest injury is particularly disappointing considering that Hertl was putting together a breakthrough season after battling knee issues in three of his first four NHL seasons. Hertl underwent surgery to repair the medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee during his rookie season after taking a knee-to-knee hit from Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown on Dec. 19, 2013.
The Czech forward also missed the last four games of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final after he re-injured his right knee in a collision with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist in Game 2 of the series. He missed 33 more games last season to undergo a surgical procedure after he sprained his right knee on a check from Jori Lehtera.
“You feel for the guy,” Couture said. “He just can’t catch a break when it comes to (injuries). Hopefully, it’s short term.”
Hertl currently ranks second on the Sharks in goals (15) and fifth in points (33). His move to Logan Couture’s left wing in the third game of the season kickstarted the Sharks offense in the wake of Patrick Marleau’s departure to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“It’s tough,” Couture said. “You lose a guy that plays every situation for us. He takes a lot of faceoffs. He plays hard and he’s a top-six forward.”
With the loss, the Sharks failed to capitalize on an opportunity to build on their two-point lead over the Calgary Flames for second place in the Pacific Division and their three-point edge over the Los Angeles Kings, the Western Conference’s ninth-place team.
The Flames suffered a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins Tuesday while the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Kings 7-3.
Back in San Jose, Alex Goligoski scored the game-winning goal at 9:35 of the second on a Coyotes power play, blasting a shot from the point past goalie Martin Jones with Christian Fischer providing a screen in front.
Our blue line has been red hot. 🔥
Alex Goligoski’s point streak is now a season-high 5 games. pic.twitter.com/Gm79WkTvr5
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) February 14, 2018
The Coyotes opened the scoring at 7:58 of the first when Kevin Connauton found a loose puck in the crease and punched it in. Jones momentarily lost the puck after Cousins redirected a Brad Richardson shot through his legs that hit the left post and trickled into the blue paint, creating a scramble in front of the net.
Mikkel Boedker answered Connauton’s goal 1:22 later, scoring his eighth by redirecting a Justin Braun point shot into the top shelf from the slot. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic also picked up an assist on the play.
Just some misdirection. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/Y2a0dOMStW
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 14, 2018
The Sharks outshot the Coyotes 41-26. Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves, and Antti Raanta, who replaced him after he suffered an injury 28 seconds into the third, stopped 12 shots.
Couture called the loss to the NHL’s worst team a “trap game” in the wake of the Sharks (30-19-8) comeback win over the Anaheim Ducks Sunday.
“Coming off an emotional win, you come back home, you want to play well,” Couture. “You can’t let that affect you and we let it affect us.”