SAN JOSE — Forward Joonas Donskoi has a lower body injury and will miss Game 3 on Monday when the Sharks look to take a two-games-to-one lead in their second round playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said he does not consider Donskoi’s injury to be serious. Donskoi, who played limited minutes in the first two games, has had injury troubles this season, most recently an upper body malady in March when he missed eight games. In six playoff games, Donskoi, used mainly as a top line winger, has a goal and two assists.
With Donskoi out and Joe Thornton still not able to return, Chris Tierney took line rushes Monday morning as the Sharks’ top line center with Joe Pavelski and Evander Kane on the wings. Kane returns to the lineup after serving his one-game suspension Saturday, a 4-3 Sharks win in double overtime on Logan Couture’s power play goal that leveled the series at one game apiece.
“I’ve played with those guys in spurts before, so I kind of know what we’re getting into here,” Tierney said. “They’re easy players to play with. They’re top line guys for a reason. They usually make players around them better, so, I just want to bring my top game tonight and be able to help the team win and hopefully our line can generate something tonight.”
With Tierney up on the top line, Barclay Goodrow will serve as the Sharks’ third line center with wingers Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc. The Sharks’ fourth line remains intact with Eric Fehr centering a line with Marcus Sorensen and Melker Karlsson. The second line features, as usual, Couture at center with wingers Tomas Hertl and Mikkel Boedker.
“That’s how we’ll start tonight, and we’ll see how it goes,” DeBoer said.
DeBoer said he liked how Tierney played in the latter stages of Game 2, particularly the first overtime, when he was moved to the top line with Pavelski and Meier. Tierney finished the game with five shots on goal, two takeaways and won eight of 15 draws.
“On paper, it should work. Chris is a very intelligent, high IQ player. He moves the puck around,” DeBoer said. “Pavelski and Kane both bring their own specialties to the game. But lines on paper really don’t mean anything. They sound great until the game starts.
“We’ll see how it works. I’m hopeful that it works. I’m hopeful it works, but our other lines work. That’s probably more important, because if it works and our other lines aren’t working, we might have to make some changes just because of that.”
Tierney’s line figures to get matched up quite a bit Monday against one of the Golden Knights’ top two lines. Vegas’ top line, with William Karlsson at center and Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith on the wings, has combined for 12 points in the first two games.
Pavelski and Couture lead the Sharks with seven points each in the playoffs, Kane has four and Tierney has one assist.
“We’ll probably get one of their two top lines, but I don’t think we’re too worried about that,” Tierney said. “We’re pretty comfortable with all four lines getting out there, whoever we’re against.”
In his first career NHL playoff game Saturday, Goodrow, playing mainly on the fourth line, finished with two shots on goal, four hits, three blocked shots and won six of 10 faceoffs. Goodrow played in every game but one from Jan. 5 to March 27 when he was injured in a game against St. Louis. He was a scratch for all four games in the first round against Anaheim and Game 1 against Vegas.
“Felt good. Obviously the team played a lot better than Game 1,” Goodrow said. “Personally, it was good to get back out there with the guys and compete and get the win.”