Editor's note: The above video is from Feb. 18, 2016.
SAN JOSE – Injured Sharks forward Tommy Wingels will likely be an option for Tuesday’s home game with Boston, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll suit up against the Bruins.
Wingels has missed the last 12 games with a sprained left shoulder, hurting himself in Florida on Feb. 18, but appeared to be a full participant for Monday’s practice.
“The [range of motion] is where it needs to be,” Wingels said. “The biggest thing for something like this is to have confidence that it’s not going to hurt itself again or you’re not going to put yourself in the wrong position. I’m confident in the strength there. It’s been a tough few weeks, but the shoulder is feeling good.”
Coach Pete DeBoer, though, is reluctant to mess with his active roster after the Sharks played one of their better games on Saturday, beating the Capitals at home, 5-2. He was able to roll four lines for the duration of the win over the NHL’s best club.
Wingels took rushes with fourth liners Chris Tierney, Dainius Zubrus and Nick Spaling on Monday.
“We’ll talk with the trainers and see how [Wingels] feels in the morning and then we’ll go from there,” DeBoer said. “Based on last game we probably aren’t going to make any changes to our lineup if everybody is healthy. We’ll make those decisions tomorrow.”
Wingels is having a down year offensively, with six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 56 games.
Still, he leads the Sharks in penalties drawn per 60 minutes (1.7). Since Wingels has gotten hurt, the Sharks have been on the power play two or fewer times in seven out of 12 games, including two games where they didn’t have a single advantage.
He’s also still the Sharks’ hits leader with 165, and is always willing to stand up for his teammates when necessary.
“He brings all those things to the table,” DeBoer said. “Those are all very valuable. They get more valuable the deeper you go into the season. I also think that he has another level to get to in his play based on what he’s done so far.”
Wingels and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara have a bit of a history. In a game on Oct. 14, 2013, Chara knocked Wingels from a game with a borderline high hit in the first period. Nearly one year to the day later, Wingels delivered a huge body check to the towering defenseman, knocking him clean off of his skates.
“He’s a guy who likes the puck in the corner, and if the puck is there, I’m going to go get it,” Wingels said. “If he’s got it, I’ll probably try to play his body a bit. It’s just about battling. He likes to battle, and I’ve got no problem battling. It seems like a couple times over the past couple years we’ve engaged with each other for whatever reason. It’s all in the fun of the game.”
The Sharks top three lines remained the same for Monday’s skate. Logan Couture centered Melker Karlsson and Joonas Donskoi on the second line, while Patrick Marleau was between Joel Ward and Matt Nieto.
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James Reimer will make his third start in net for San Jose on Tuesday night, DeBoer said. In his first two games in teal, Reimer is 1-1-0 with a 1.54 goals-against average and .946 save percentage, including a 31-save shutout in Edmonton last Tuesday.
“One, he deserves to play. He had an outstanding game in Edmonton,” DeBoer said. “Two, that’s the plan with having [Reimer and Martin Jones] here, is being able to keep both guys fresh down the stretch so we’ve got two healthy starting goalies come playoff time.”
