SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek is out indefinitely after he was struck within the face by a puck that was unexpectedly redirected into the workforce’s bench within the second interval of Tuesday night time’s sport with the Winnipeg Jets.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky mentioned Wednesday that Vanecek, who’s in a contract 12 months and is a pending unrestricted free agent, was being additional evaluated by a health care provider after the scary stroke of misfortune. Warsofsky wouldn’t say the place precisely Vanecek was struck.
“Terrible, awful luck. I feel for him and his family. There’s a lot in play here for him,” Warsofsky mentioned. “We’ve got to get him going. Hopefully, it’s not too long, but you feel for him, and you have to pick him up.”
Tuesday night time, Jets defenseman Colin Miller was carrying the puck out of his workforce’s zone early within the second interval when he despatched a cross-ice move meant for protection accomplice Logan Stanley. Sharks ahead William Eklund bought his stick on the puck, deflecting it excessive into the air earlier than Stanley, skating in entrance of the San Jose bench, tried to knock it down along with his stick.
As an alternative, the puck was redirected proper into Vanecek’s face.
Vanecek was rapidly tended to by a member of the Sharks’ coaching employees and was led again into the workforce’s dressing room. The Sharks introduced early within the third interval that Vanecek wouldn’t be out there for the remainder of the sport.
Longtime Sharks tv coloration analyst Drew Remenda was standing near Vanecek, who was sitting down when the puck hit him. Backup goalies put on their pads, plus their glove and a blocker, whereas on the bench. However hardly ever, if ever, do they put on their masks.
“Stanley goes to knock it down and it hit Vitek right in the face, unfortunately,” Remenda mentioned on the air of the puck. “He’s got attention right away by the doctors. That’s brutal.”
The accident occurred shortly after Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli scored his thirteenth objective of the season on the 1:52 mark of the second interval to tie the sport 1-1. The Sharks would lose to the Jets 4-3.
“We’re here for him,” Warsofsky mentioned of Vanecek. “Teammates, coaches, management, and everyone in this building is going to be here for him to get him back, get him healthy, and get him going again.”
With Vanecek now unavailable, the Sharks recalled goalie Yaroslav Askarov from the Barracuda on Wednesday morning. He and Alexander Georgiev will type the Sharks’ goalie tandem for the foreseeable future, beginning with Thursday’s sport in opposition to the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Middle.
The Sharks then play two extra highway video games earlier than Christmas, as they face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and the Vancouver Canucks on Monday earlier than starting a three-day break.
On Dec. 9, the Sharks acquired Georgiev, ahead Nikolai Kovalenko, and two draft picks from the Avalanche in trade for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, ahead Givani Smith, and a draft choose.
Vanecek was backing up Georgiev, who began in opposition to the Jets and completed with 29 saves. Backup goalies throughout Sharks video games at SAP Middle often sit just a few ft behind the workforce’s bench on the entranceway to the dressing room.
The 28-year-old Vanecek, in his first full season with the Sharks after he was acquired from the New Jersey Devils in March, is 3-8-1 this season with a .885 save proportion in 14 video games. He missed three video games in November with an upper-body ailment after he was injured through the Sharks’ Nov. 16 sport in Pittsburgh.
Askarov, 22, has performed in two video games for the Sharks this season and is 1-0-1 with a .927 save proportion. In 14 video games with the Barracuda, Askarov, acquired from the Nashville Predators in August and regarded the Sharks goalie of the long run, is 9-4-1 with three shutouts and a .938 save proportion in 14 video games.
“It’s an opportunity,” Warsofsky mentioned of Askarov. “Unfortunate circumstances with Vitek going down, but it’s an opportunity for him to play some games, probably consistently.”
TRADE REVISITED: Blackwood has began two video games for the Avalanche because the commerce, going 1-1-0 with a .937 save proportion, together with a 37-save efficiency in his house debut on Saturday in a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in Denver.
Likewise, Kovalenko has been a strong addition to his new workforce, with 5 assists in 4 video games.
He has performed on the Sharks’ high line with Toffoli and Macklin Celebrini within the final three video games. Toffoli and Celebrini every had a objective and an help Tuesday, and Celebrini, with seven factors in his final 4 video games, has 22 factors in 22 video games this season.
“His competitive nature has come out,” Warsofsky mentioned of Kovalenko. “He hunts pucks, he’s on pucks. What impressed me the most was his wall play on breakouts.”
Previous Toffoli’s objective, Kovalenko gained a battle alongside the wall to get the puck to Celebrini, who fed Toffoli.
“He’s one of the best guys we have on the wall,” Warsofsky mentioned of Kovalenko. “He fights that panic. A lot of times, you get a puck on the wall, you get hit, and you get pinched down by the defenseman. And he’s calm and poised with it. Nine times out of 10, he usually makes the right play, and he executes the play.”
