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ST. LOUIS — With the Sharks looking to take command of the Western Conference Final against the St. Louis Blues, Marcus Sorensen rejoined the lineup Friday after he was a healthy scratch for Game 3.
Sorensen began Game 4 against the Blues on the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Joonas Donskoi. Micheal Haley, who had 5 minutes and 50 seconds of ice time in Game 3 — a 5-4 Sharks win in overtime that gave them a 2-1 series lead — will be a scratch.
“I’ll be ready for Game 4 tonight,” Sorensen said.
The Sharks kept their other three forward lines intact, as Melker Karlsson remained on the Sharks’ third line with Joe Thornton and Kevin Labanc. In Game 3, Thornton scored two goals for the first time in 176 NHL playoff games and Labanc had two assists.
Sorensen had played 16 straight playoff games before he sat Wednesday, but his ice time gradually diminished as his production dipped.
Sorensen went without a point in the final five games of the Sharks’ second round series against the Colorado Avalanche, and the first two games of the conference final. He had 10:34 of ice time in Game 1 and 10:00 in Game 2. He started the playoffs averaging roughly 13-14 minutes per game.
“I thought Hales did an outstanding job for us,” DeBoer said Friday morning. “Marcus I think you get 14 games, 15 games into the playoffs, he’s not the biggest guy. I think sometimes you need a reset, maybe an extra day off, burst of energy. Maybe a couple days off. We have depth on our roster and we’re going to use that as we go here.
“I don’t think we’re a tired team, but there’s no hiding from the fact that we have played (17) games and we’ve got fresh guys so we’re going to use them when we feel fit.”
THE HIT PARADE: Justin Braun has taken more than his share of punishment in the first three games of the conference final. Braun took a staggering 11 hits in Game 3, after he absorbed six hits in Game 1 and four hits in Game 2.
The biggest and potentially scariest hit Braun took in Game 3 came from Sammy Blais, who made contact with Braun’s head with his shoulder with the puck to the right of Sharks goalie Martin Jones in the third period. Braun was able to get up from the hit but no penalty was called.
Sammy Blais hits Justin Braun#SJSharks #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/n9uTpk6rV0
— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) May 16, 2019
“It is what it is. Missed some calls that game, gotta move on,” Braun said Friday morning. “I feel fine. Been hit harder than that, I guess.”
Braun is averaging 21:29 of ice time so far in the playoffs.
“He plays the game the right way. He doesn’t avoid contact,” DeBoer said. “Bounces back up every time and gets ready to play again. I was worried about him last game, took that high hit to the head and thankfully no injury. Those are the ones you worry about with him. The clean hits I don’t worry about. He takes that and always jumps up.
“It’s the ones that are to the head like that that you worry about, but thankfully there was no injury.”
MISSING PRODUCTION: Three games into the series and Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane have combined for one point, an assist by Kane on Logan Couture’s empty net goal in Game 1, a 6-3 Sharks win.
Since the puck hasn’t gone in of late for both Hertl and Kane, they’re trying to find other ways to contribute. Hertl, for instance, has taken a team-high 403 faceoffs since the playoffs began, more than double the total of Logan Couture (189) and Thornton (185).
“We created a couple of good chances. Myself, I should have scored two goals. So finally we’re getting a little bit better,” Hertl said. “The chances are there. We still have to help the team win, but for myself, if the goals aren’t coming I just try to help out on faceoffs, PK, whatever I can.
“For sure, our line can be a little bit better, but last game we got a couple of bounces, a couple of chances. Last game, Jumbo’s line stepped it up. It can be our line tonight.”
Kane has two assists in his last eight games, but perhaps just as concerning is his lack of shots. Kane led all Sharks forwards in the regular season, but has only four in three games this series as time and space has disappeared.
A more direct approach might help.
“I think we just need to get some more pucks to the net. Instead of maybe looking for those little plays or delays, just a little bit more north hockey with our line and getting some more pucks to crash into the net,” Kane said. “We had a couple of shifts in that game where, when we did that, we had some good scoring opportunities and had some success spending time in their end during those shifts.
“We can do that more consistently and spent less time in our zone, too.”
