The Sharks changed their lineup again on Friday for the game against the Minnesota Wild, and the most visible move was Michael Misa shifting from second-line center to left wing on the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Filip Bystedt was scratched, Eric Pohlkamp returned to the lineup and Ty Dellandrea moved into a different role as Ryan Warsofsky tried to steady a team that had just been beaten 7-2 by the Los Angeles Kings.
That reset came with real urgency. The Sharks had lost five of their last six games and had been outscored 24-11 in that stretch, a run that left them tied for fifth place in the Pacific Division and searching for any combination that might help. They were also carrying the memory of Wednesday’s loss into a quick turnaround, with Yaroslav Askarov expected to start for the fifth time in six games and the group still short on margin for error.
Misa said he was comfortable on the left side and that his job on the line with Celebrini and Smith was to support them and help generate offense. The assignment made sense because the Sharks have been rotating players there since Igor Chernyshov was injured on Oct. 22, trying Collin Graf, Ivar Stenberg and Tyler Toffoli before settling on Misa for Friday. Graf was set to center a line with Mason Marchment and Kiefer Sherwood, while Dellandrea was to center the third line with Stenberg and Toffoli on the wings.
The shuffle also exposed how thin the Sharks remain. Alexander Wennberg was day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained on Oct. 19, and the club had a roster spot open if it wanted to activate him for Saturday’s game against the Dallas Stars. Pohlkamp’s return came a day after his NHL debut, when he logged three shots on goal in 17:37 of ice time, while Nolan Allan was scratched for a second straight game.
Warsofsky said the group knew exactly where it needed to get to and admitted the players were frustrated as they kept battling to find their game. A players-only meeting after the loss to the Kings did not change the bottom line, and the lineup changes were another attempt to force one. The Sharks get little time to sort it out, with Dallas next on Saturday before the New York Islanders on Monday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.
Askarov’s numbers against Minnesota offered one of the few encouraging signs: in four career games, he was 3-1-0 with an.888 save percentage. For the Sharks, that kind of modest edge is about all they have right now — and whether Friday’s reshuffle creates enough of one may be the next answer they need.
