NASHVILLE – Dan Boyle still isn’t ready to completely divulge all of the details on his recovery from getting knocked unconscious nearly two months ago during a game in St. Louis.
“I think there’s a story there, I just don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet,” Boyle said on Saturday morning. “I’m still going through things. There will be a time where I can open up and talk about it, I’m just not quite there yet.”
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There has been a noticeable improvement in the 37-year-old’s game over the past week. Boyle has the primary assist on three of the Sharks’ last five goals, including two on the power play.
Overall, Boyle has 15 points in 25 games, and is averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time a night. Todd McLellan thinks Boyle is just about back to normal.
“There’s a lot of things that go into coming back from an injury like that,” McLellan said. “It was a traumatic experience for him, and he’s been able to fight through it and basically get really close to where he needs to be.
“It can be a little more frustrating because he’s such a dominant guy. Average defensemen or different types of defensemen, a lot of their plays are just chip it out off the glass. Danny delivers some really good passes. When you don’t see it happening all the time it can be frustrating because your expectations for him, and he for himself, are so high. But, we’ve been able to work through it with him and he’s getting awfully close.”
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On the ice, Boyle has registered 12 shots on goal in his last three games, a facet to his game that he’s been consciously trying to improve lately. He had five shots in Thursday’s win over the Wild, three shots against New York last Tuesday (with another five attempts blocked), and four shots (with two attempts blocked) last Sunday in Minnesota.
Prior to this current three-game stretch, Boyle had a combined five shots on goal in his last five games.
“I looked at my shot totals and I kind of went a few games without shooting the puck,” he said. “It’s more about just saying you’re going to shoot when some of us think pass a lot. It was just a reminder to shoot a little bit more."
“When I go through a stretch where I don’t get opportunities or things don’t go a certain way, you try and pinpoint why … I did look at that, and told myself to shoot more.”
At some point, Boyle will be ready to let everyone in on the difficulty of his journey back from going head first into the boards on Oct. 15, on a dirty hit from the Blues’ Maxim Lapierre, saying that it should be a "good story." Just not yet.
“I’m still working through it. It’s coming up on two months here, and it’s felt like it’s been longer. It is what it is. It’s a process, I still have some work to do, working on some issues. But, I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got now. Just looking ahead, man.”
