PITTSBURGH — Yaroslav Askarov is back in the goal for the San Jose Sharks.
Askarov, battling an illness over the last week, will bookend this five-game road trip this afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He started the road trip at the Dallas Stars, before Alex Nedeljkovic took over for the next three contests. Nedeljkovic won two of them, stopping 82 of 88 shots.
Shakir Mukhamadullin, in his first game back after four-straight healthy scratches, got an upper-body injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky called it day-to-day.
“He’s probably frustrated. But again, we think this is very short-term,” Warsofsky said. “We’re confident that he’ll be ready for next week.”
Nick Leddy and Vincent Iorio will come in for Mukhamadullin and Timothy Liljegren (healthy scratch).
“I think his game has just slipped a little bit here,” Warsofsky said of Liljegren, “consistency-wise, just killing plays, one-on-one puck battles, things that he did a really good job of early in the year. We gotta get him back, being that guy that can shut down top lines. More of a reset, he’s played a lot of hockey.”
Ryan Reaves (upper-body) was a game-time decision, but he’s in. Ty Dellandrea (lower-body) is still a game-time decision.
San Jose Sharks (15-14-3)
Reminder that SJHN spoke with Sidney Crosby about Macklin Celebrini last week:
Celebrini also spoke about Crosby recently in Toronto:
Pittsburgh Penguins (14-8-7)
The Penguins acquired Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak from the Edmonton Oilers for Tristan Jarry yesterday.
Head coach Dan Muse will share more line-up details at about 10 AM PT.
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins is at 12 PM PT at PPG Paints Arena. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
