Yaroslav Askarov’s San Jose Sharks debut will have to wait. But for perhaps not much longer.
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood will start Wednesday when the Sharks face the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center to start a two-game road trip that ends Thursday in St. Louis.
Askarov, who was recalled from the Barracuda of the AHL at the start of the week, will back up Blackwood for the second straight game. The Sharks are staying with the same lineup they had Monday when they beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in overtime.
All three Sharks goalies, including Vitek Vanecek, are on the road trip. Vanecek, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury he sustained in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Warsofsky wouldn’t say who would start Thursday against the Blues. But it would be unusual to start the same goalie on back-to-back nights on the road, and it wouldn’t seem prudent to play Vanecek if he wasn’t 100% healthy.
Although nothing is official, that would seem to leave Askarov as the Sharks’ top option in St. Louis.
“Vitek’s day-to-day here,” Warsofsky said, “and we’ll play it as we go.”
The Sharks have received solid goaltending for most of this season, but that hasn’t slowed down anticipation as to when Askarov, one of the AHL’s top goalie prospects, would first play with the team.
Askarov, in one of general manager Mike Grier’s most notable transactions this offseason, was acquired from the Nashville Predators in August in a deal that involved three other players and two draft picks.
That anticipation grew after Askarov had a stellar start to the season with the Barracuda, going 5-0, including two shutouts, with a .959 save percentage. Through nine games with the Barracuda, Askarov is 6-3-0 with a .939 save percentage and 1.92 goals against average.
The start was more impressive considering Askarov was injured throughout training camp and didn’t play in the preseason with the Sharks.
Blackwood stopped 16 of 20 shots against the Red Wings. In his last nine games before Wednesday, he had a 4-4-1 record and a solid .920 save percentage, giving the Sharks a chance each time.
Blackwood has his work cut out against the Stars, who entered Wednesday in third place in the Central Division. Blackwood stopped 36 of 38 shots when he started in Dallas on Oct. 15 and has a 0-3-1 career record with a .903 save percentage against the Stars.
Before Wednesday’s game, the Sharks’ team save percentage of .899 ranked 14th in the NHL, and their team goals-against average of 3.34 ranked 23rd in the league.
DOUBLE UP?: The Sharks have so far avoided playing Will Smith on back-to-back nights, giving the rookie forward what they’ve called ‘development days’ on such occasions.
It is unclear whether that pattern will remain intact Thursday in St. Louis. While Warsofsky wants Smith and current linemate Macklin Celebrini to be better on defense, they seem to develop more chemistry as linemates with each shift.
“I hope (their chemistry) continues to grow, moreso on the defensive side,” Warsofsky said. “There’s some things defensively that they need to understand — within their own games — that need to grow. But offensively, they’ve done some good things. It’s going to be more on the other side of the puck for us.”
If the Sharks plan to scratch Smith against the Blues, they could dress Givani Smith as a fourth-line player and make other lineup adjustments. Or they could go to 11 forwards and seven defensemen and bring Jack Thompson back into the lineup. Right now, with three goalies on their active roster, the Sharks currently have only 13 forwards.
Warsofsky has emphasized that Celebrini has played on back-to-back nights once this season and is on a development plan different from Smith. Celebrini dressed for games against the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 10 and 11, respectively.
“They both have schedules and plans that are different, and we’ll deal with that as we go forward here,” Warsofsky said of Smith and Celebrini.