Sharks center to miss game vs. Minnesota Wild with illness

The San Jose Sharks will be without center William Eklund on Sunday when they play the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Eklund was ill on Sunday, a Sharks team spokesman said.

Sharks coach David Quinn said before Sunday’s game that he was not planning to make any lineup changes other than starting goalie Kaapo Kahkonen instead of Magnus Chrona, who played Saturday and made 36 saves in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars.

But with Eklund unavailable, Kevin Labanc drew back into the lineup after he was a healthy scratch Saturday. Luke Kunin moved into Eklund’s role as the Sharks’ second-line center and had Labanc and Filip Zadina on his wings.

Mikael Granlund centered the Sharks’ top line with  Anthony Duclair and Fabian Zetterlund on the wings.

Eklund had goals in each of the last two Sharks’ games and for the season, has 10 goals and 27 points in 58 games.

With his goal in the first period of Saturday’s game, Eklund became the fourth Sharks player with at least 10 goals this season, joining Tomas Hertl and Fabian Zetterlund with 15 each, and Anthony Duclair with 13.

Since Hertl went out of the Sharks’ lineup in late January with a knee issue, Eklund has taken on a more prominent role as the team’s second-line center. In the last 10 games before Sunday, Eklund had two goals and four assists and was playing 19:00 per game.

For the season, among active Sharks players, Eklund ranks fourth in average time on ice with 18:33 per game.

The Sharks have been decimated at times this season at the center position. Besides Hertl’s injury, which could keep him out for a few more weeks, Sharks captain Logan Couture has played in just six of the team’s 60 games with osteitis pubis, described as inflammation in the joint between a person’s left and right pubic bones.

Without Hertl and Couture, the Sharks, since mid-February, had a 1-6-1 record entering Sunday.

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