SAN JOSE -- The Sharks will fly to Montreal on Monday but Logan Couture won’t be on the team charter due to his latest injury, coach Pete DeBoer revealed on Sunday.
The 26-year-old center will miss at least the next five games, all on the road, taking the Sharks into their four-day Christmas break from Dec. 23-26. Couture had a procedure to close an artery due to bleeding in his right thigh area last Thursday, and the Sharks did not put a timeframe on his return other than to say it’s not expected to be long-term.
By the time the Sharks visit the Kings on Dec. 22 Couture will have missed 29 of the first 34 games, including 23 from a fractured right fibula. San Jose hosts Colorado on Dec. 28.
In practice on Sunday, DeBoer once again shuffled his lines after the Sharks were shut out on Saturday against Minnesota, 2-0. He reunited Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski while putting Tomas Hertl on the left wing, and had Patrick Marleau centering Joel Ward and Melker Karlsson to round out the top two lines. The third line featured Chris Tierney between Joonas Donskoi and Tommy Wingels; while Dainius Zubrus, Mike Brown and Matt Nieto were the fourth liners.
It appears that’s how the Sharks will line up against the Canadiens on Tuesday as they try to end a six-game losing skid (0-5-1).
“You can read a lot into it. That’s the one thing that I think we can change,” DeBoer said of the new combinations. “We don’t want to change our foundation or what we’re doing, but we can change chemistry and combinations and try to get a spark. We’re going to keep doing that until we do.”
On the blue line, one player trying to solidify his place in the lineup is defenseman Dylan DeMelo. The 22-year-old played his second straight game on Saturday, going scoreless with an even rating in 12:27 of ice time.
DeBoer is still waiting for one of his young blueliners to string some games together, as he puts it. Perhaps DeMelo can be that guy.
“Through a couple games here, we like what we’ve seen,” said the coach. “He gives you a comfort level when he’s on the ice. He’s got a real good composure to him. He’s a smart player, and he’s done a really good job.”
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Rookie center Joonas Donskoi responded the way DeBoer was hoping when Donskoi was demoted to the fourth line for a game in Calgary on Dec. 8. In the two games since then, the 23-year-old has five shots on goal and set up Joe Pavelski for a score in Edmonton on Dec. 9.
DeBoer said: “Most nights he’s the hardest working guy on the ice. You combine that with hockey sense and a good stick, he’s on the puck, he’s a puck hound. I think he’s an easy guy to play with. Good players want to play with him. He can also play an energy depth role.
“I think he had a real good start, his play dropped a little bit and we kind of moved him down the lineup to the fourth line, and he responded the way you want a guy to respond. He’s played some of his best hockey of the year in the last two or three games, so that’s what we’re looking for.”
