The San Jose Sharks return home to play against the Edmonton Oilers after splitting their 2-game road trip. San Jose bounced back after a devastating 5-0 loss in Dallas with a 3-2 overtime victory in St. Louis.
The game winner was produced by an Ivar Stenberg backdoor pass to Darnell Nurse who would put the puck behind the goalie. When asked after Friday’s practice about any concern that Nurse left the bench early, Coach Ryan Warsofsky jokingly answered “I didn’t see it until after, but… [it’s] the way it works.”
The 2 road games posed new questions for the Sharks as they were without their team captain Macklin Celebrini. The struggle was evident against the Stars as new lines were tested with variable success. But eventually a solution was found against the Blues with Will Smith sliding to the center spot that he played at Boston College, Ivar Stenberg and Alexander Wennberg playing together on Line 2, Tyler Toffoli aiding the youthful 3rd line, and Ty Dellandrea playing the 4th line instead of the 1st.
The spread out veteran presence on each line worked wonders as Toffoli finished the game with a goal and assist along with Jacob Trouba and Wennberg registering an assist and Nurse’s game winner. Toffoli and Nurse are the team’s road alternate captains while Wennberg and Barclay Goodrow are the team’s home alternate captains. Wennberg after Friday’s practice mentioned that “it’s important for guys to step up. Doesn’t matter if you wear a letter or not. It’s one of those games that other guys have to fill in and there are big shoes to fill in.”
Back at SAP center, the Sharks will take on the Edmonton Oilers in what will be Darnell Nurse’s first game against his former squad. Nurse was drafted by the Oilers in 2013 and spent his whole NHL career with them until eventually being traded to the Sharks during this offseason. As this will be his first time playing against a former team, Nurse “asked some of the guys in here ‘is it weird to play against your old team?’ Obviously, I’ve never been through it before, but I’ve played against good friends and people when they get traded or whatnot. So, there’s that experience to lean on as well”. But ultimately, when questioned about the level of the game’s importance, Darnell responded humorously with “100%. You know why? It’s a division game.”
The match will take place on Saturday at 1pm PT at SAP Center. Macklin Celebrini and Kiefer Sherwood are listed as Day-to-Day and will be Game Time Decisions.
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