San Jose Sharks, on losing skid, hit with two more injuries
San Jose Sharks carry a five-game losing streak into Saturday's game with the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center
The list of injured San Jose Sharks players keeps getting longer.
Both defenseman Ty Emberson and forward Alexander Barabanov will miss this weekend’s games after they were injured in Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, Sharks coach David Quinn said.
The Sharks are in Dallas tonight to play the Central Division-leading Stars and travel to play the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Emberson suffered a laceration, Quinn said, during the first period Thursday and is now considered week-to-week. The 23-year-old Wisconsin native has suffered multiple injuries this season and has only played 14 of the last 34 games.
“Right now, he’s (out) at least a couple weeks,” Quinn said of Emberson. “This was just a freak play, really. Very unfortunate.”
Barabanov is also not on the road trip after he sustained a lower-body injury against the Ducks, Quinn said. Barabanov did not play the final 15 minutes of the third period as the Sharks went on to lose 6-4 to Anaheim, extending their skid to five games.
Quinn said Barabanov who had been playing on the Sharks’ third line with Nico Sturm and Kevin Labanc, is day-to-day. Givani Smith will take Barabanov’s spot in the lineup, and the third line will feature Sturm with Justin Bailey and Mike Hoffman.
Barabanov, too, has been bitten by the injury/illness bug this season and has just 10 points in 37 games. He was scratched from the Sharks’ Feb. 19 game against the Vegas Golden Knights but returned to the lineup for games against Nashville and New Jersey before he was injured against the Ducks.
“He’s had some good moments,” Quinn said of Barabanov, a pending unrestricted free agent and a potential target for other teams before the NHL trade deadline.
“Looks like he’s trying to force offense, it’s been a hard year for him with his injuries and him being in his free agency year. So I think he’s chasing offense a little bit too much, but there was an uptick in his play the last two games.”
It was not immediately clear if defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic would be able to return to the Sharks lineup Saturday after he missed the last three games. Vlasic took part in the Sharks’ morning skate at American Airlines Center.
Already out for the Sharks right now are centers Logan Couture (groin) and Tomas Hertl (knee), goalie Mackenzie Blackwood (lower body), and defenseman Matt Benning (hip). Both Couture and Hertl are aiming to return before the end of the regular season in mid-April, Blackwood is expected to be back this month and Benning is out for the season.
After Sunday, the Sharks return home to play Dallas on Tuesday and the New York Islanders on Thursday. The NHL trade deadline is Friday at noon (PST), and several Sharks players, including Barabanov, Hoffman, and Labanc, could be on the move.
The Sharks entered Saturday with the NHL’s second-worst record at 15-38-5. Dallas is at 36-17-9.