The San Jose Sharks will have forwards Filip Zadina and Nico Sturm and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic in their lineup on Tuesday when they play the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.
Zadina has been on injured reserve since Nov. 27 and Sturm was hurt Sunday morning in the hours before the Sharks’ game against the New York Rangers. Vlasic has been scratched from eight of the last nine games and will take Matt Benning’s spot in the lineup.
Kaapo Kahkonen will start in goal for the Sharks after MacKenzie Blackwood was in net for San Jose’s 6-5 loss to the Rangers. Kahkonen is 2-1-0 in three career games against the Islanders, with a .907 save percentage and a 3.01 goals-against average.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin will start for the Islanders. In three career games against San Jose, Sorokin is 1-0-2 with a 1.94 GAA and a .935 save percentage.
Zadina hasn’t played since Nov. 24 when he left the Sharks’ game with the Montreal Canadiens after one period with an upper-body injury. He has three goals and two assists on the season and per The Hockey News and San Jose Hockey Now, skated on a line Tuesday morning with Jacob MacDonald and Matt Hoffman.
Sturm centered a line with Kevin Labanc and Justin Bailey.
The Sharks placed center Ryan Carpenter and defenseman Ty Emberson on injured reserve on Monday. Carpenter and forward Luke Kunin, who was placed on IR on Saturday, went on the ice Tuesday morning after the Sharks finished the main portion of their morning skate.
The Sharks are 1-2-0 on their six-game road trip that continues after Tuesday with games in Detroit on Thursday and Las Vegas on Sunday. MacDonald, Mikael Granlund, Tomas Hertl, and Anthony Duclair are all on two-game point streaks, as the Sharks have scored 11 goals in their last two games, nearly twice as many as they had (six) in their first 11 road games.
Following a 5-6-3 start to the season, the Islanders are 5-1-3 and have moved to within a point of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In the last three games, Anders Lee has a goal and two assists, and Bo Horvat has two goals and two assists.
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