Closing argument? San Jose Sharks winger seems to cement roster spot with solid game

It’s a forward line that might just be together for the San Jose Sharks’ season-opening game next week against the Vegas Golden Knights.

William Eklund probably wouldn’t mind that birthday present one bit.

Eklund started Thursday’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings on a line with center Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin and assisted on a game-tying goal by Thomas Bordeleau in the third period in the Sharks’ 4-3 overtime loss at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Eklund has now been impressive in three straight exhibition games and after spending most of last season in the AHL, may have just cemented his spot on the Sharks roster to start the regular season.

NHL teams have to get their rosters down to 23 players by Monday and it’s not a stretch to say that Eklund will be among the 13 or 14 forwards the Sharks carry into their season-opener next Thursday at home against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Eklund turns 21 that day.

“I thought he played another strong game,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of Eklund. “I really liked his game tonight. As we’ve talked about, he’s been trending in the right direction.”

Eklund just adds a certain dynamic presence and pizzazz that’s lacking in other parts of the Sharks’ lineup. There’s also a work ethic and a motor that hasn’t stopped for three straight games as he finished the preseason with one goal and two assists. He also killed penalties and was part of the Sharks’ second power-play unit.

Bordeleau’s goal came at the 14:15 mark of the third period and was his second in as many preseason games. On the play, Bordeleau chased the puck behind the Kings’ net before Eklund came to support. As Bordeleau went to the front of the net, Eklund found him with a nifty pass that the Michigan product deposited past Los Angeles goalie Pheonix Copley.

Did the game clarify things in terms of who will make the team out of training camp, or complicate matters?

“I want it to be as complicated as it can be, that’s for sure,” Quinn said. “But it was going to be complicated regardless of tonight. We knew we were going to have hard decisions and we’ll take the time to make those hard decisions here over the next few days.”

Other takeaways from Thursday:

THAT UNIQUE POWER PLAY: To help generate offense, the Sharks are having to get creative in certain areas now that they’re without the services of Erik Karlsson. One of those adjustments, at least for the time being, is having five forwards compromise the first power play unit.

The Sharks began to experiment with the unorthodox look in practice this week, gave it a go Thursday in their final game of the preseason, and saw some immediate results. Alexander Barabanov, stationed around the slot area, redirected a pass along the ice from Granlund past Copley at the 17:39 mark of the first period.

The Sharks went 1-for-5 with the man advantage. On the first unit were Granlund, Barabanov, Mike Hoffman, Tomas Hertl, and Anthony Duclair. The second unit had forwards Eklund, Bordeleau, Filip Zadina, and Kevin Labanc, and also defenseman Matt Benning.

There are plusses and minuses with the five-forward configuration.

A positive is that it allows for some more skilled playmakers who are used to having the puck on their stick a chance to get creative. The negatives are that it can result in some dangerous moments for players when they don’t have the puck. They’re not necessarily used to skating backward or defending the net in their own end.

Granlund played the role of the power play quarterback to some mixed results.

“For the first time, I thought when we were in the zone, we did a lot of good things,” Quinn said. “We’ve just got to clean up the other aspects when we don’t have the puck. We’re going to have to play in the neutral zone and we’re going to have to play in the D-zone from time to time and that’s where it really got a little hairy. So, like we talked about when we did this, we’re going t have to be patient, and we’ll clean that up.”

KINGS-SHARKS BELLICOSITY: Mario Ferraro went after Adrian Kempe in the second period after the Kings forward knocked down Zadina with a late shoulder-to-shoulder hit. But that wasn’t the last scrum of the night.

Benning, Zadina, and Kyle Burroughs got into it with Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Fiala, and Mikey Anderson with 49 seconds left in the third period, bringing a rise out of the Delta Center crowd.

Quinn was asked if he was concerned that Burroughs may have come off the bench outside of what’s allowed by NHL rules. Quinn, though, said Burroughs came on the ice during the course of a normal line change. Six misconduct penalties and four double-minors for roughing were handed out.

The fact that the Sharks once again were all in there as a group pleased Quinn.

“(Burroughs) didn’t come off the bench for that purpose. I know there was a line change,” Quinn said. “Anytime there’s trouble, five guys have to go to defend each other. It’s not about being the Broad Street bullies. It’s about standing up for your teammate and giving pushback.”