Sharks forward Andrew Cogliano said he had to leave the team’s road trip a week ago to be with his family as his daughter, Olive, who is less than a year old, had to be admitted into a hospital.
Cogliano left the team after they played the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Nov. 28 and missed three games. But he flew into Columbus, Ohio on Friday and will play Sunday as the Sharks finish their five-game against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
“So it was a couple tough days, especially for my wife,” Cogliano said Sunday morning. “(Olive’s) not a year old yet. My job is hockey and no one loves the game more than me. But my first priority is being a dad and my girls at home.”
Cogliano thanked Sharks assistant general manager Joe Will and coach Bob Boughner “for allowing me to get home and obviously see my family and make sure everything is good, and everything’s good.
“She’s out and back at home and doing well. So, a little bit of a scare and that’s life. I had to get home for them.”
LINEUP CHANGES: Cogliano will be on a line Sunday with Nick Bonino and Matt Nieto. Noah Gregor will move up to the Sharks’ second line with Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov as Rudolfs Balcers is out with a lower-body injury.
Boughner considers Balcers, who had 14:46 of ice time Friday against the New York Rangers, to be day-to-day.
On defense, Radim Simek returns to the lineup, back alongside Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the Sharks’ third defense pair after he sat out Friday’s game. Nicolas Meloche, who had 12:02 of ice time against the Rangers, will be a healthy scratch.
BOUGHNER ON HERTL: Hertl enters Sunday on a season-long five-game point drought and his frustration with his lack of production lately has been evident to Boughner.
Hertl has one goal and one assist in his last nine games. In four games on this road trip, he has nine shots on goal.
Boughner spoke with Hertl at Sunday’s morning skate and asked him to try and not let his exasperation at times be so evident.
“Sometimes he’s got some body language things where he’s slapping a stick or slamming the door when he comes back (to the bench),” Boughner said. “It’s not him being a bad teammate. It’s just him being frustrated, and sometimes as a leader, you have to funnel that frustration a little better.
“I just told him that guys look up to him, especially young guys, and they don’t want to see slamming doors and slapping sticks because you’re having very good chances.”
There’s no doubt the Sharks need more production from their second line. Barabanov has two assists in his last six games and before Sunday, Balcers had three assists in his last nine.
“To be honest with you, (Hertl’s) got to do a job on that line of making his wingers better, and generating that line and being the motor on that line,” Boughner said. “Most times he has, but there are times he hasn’t, and I had that heart-to-heart with him this morning. We need to get that line more consistent.”
HILL STARTS: Sharks goalie Adin Hill will start his third consecutive game Sunday. Boughner said James Reimer is still not feeling well but could be ready by Tuesday when the Sharks open a seven-game homestand against the Calgary Flames.
Hill has stopped 66 of the last 68 shots he faced in games against Toronto, the New York Islanders, and New York Rangers, giving him a save percentage of .971, which ranks first among all goalies who have played at least three games since Nov. 25.
ANOTHER MILESTONE: Vlasic, 34, will play in his 1,105th career game for the Sharks on Sunday, moving him past Joe Thornton on the franchise’s all-time games played list.
Vlasic, the Sharks’ second-round draft pick in 2005, has been in the NHL since the start of the 2006-07 season when he was 19. Thornton, now with the Florida Panthers, played 15 years with the Sharks from 2005 to 2020 and remains the team’s all-time leader in assists (804), plus/minus (161), and points per game (0.96).
Can Vlasic catch Patrick Marleau’s record of 1,607 to become the Sharks’ all-time leader in games played? It seems unlikely seeing as he would have to play 503 more games with the Sharks.
If Vlasic plays every game for the rest of this season, and every game for the next four seasons — assuming they are 82 games in length — until his contract expires, he will get to 1,490 games.
0 comments:
Post a Comment