San Jose Sharks: Eight burning questions for their eight-game homestand

San Jose Sharks coach Bob Boughner feels his team has had the most difficult schedule in the NHL so far this season.

Who’s to argue? The Sharks have played 14 of their 16 games away from San Jose and have only spent a combined 12 days at home since players began to arrive in Scottsdale for training camp in late December. Six teams in the West Division have a points percentage of .500 or better.

But things really get serious now, as the Sharks (7-7-2) start an eight-game homestand Monday against the Minnesota Wild, a team they’ll likely need to beat out if they want to finish in the top four in the division and make the playoffs.

That’s followed by three games with the second place Vegas Golden Knights, two with the third place Colorado Avalanche and one with the first place St. Louis Blues.

Talk about a gauntlet. The next 15 days between Monday and March 8 could either put the Sharks in an enviable spot going into the second half of the season with a lot of home games remaining, or put them in a hole they can’t escape.

“We’ve found a way to keep in this thing and keep our heads above water,” Boughner said. “We’ve done a really good job considering all that we’ve been through, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

Here are eight questions for the Sharks as they begin another critical part of their schedule.

HOW WILL ERIK KARLSSON BE USED?: It’s still unknown as to when Erik Karlsson will be able to return to the Sharks lineup. As of Thursday, he was still considered day-to-day with a groin injury.

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Karlsson, according to Boughner, will likely skate again Monday morning to test out the injury and see how much it has improved over the last few days. But it stands to reason that whenever Karlsson is healthy enough to play again, Boughner will need to watch his minutes to some degree to help avoid a setback. Does that mean less time on the penalty kill, which Karlsson is dead-set against, or less time at even strength? Stay tuned.

HOW OFTEN WILL EACH GOALIE BE USED?: The Sharks only have games on back-to-back nights on one occasion during the homestand when they play Vegas on March 5 and 6. So there’s a chance Martin Jones and Devan Dubnyk will see a roughly equal amount of time in net.

But Boughner could be at the point where he wants one goalie to really start to take the reins, and that could be Jones, who is 3-2-1 this month with an .889 save percentage. One caveat: Dubnyk is 4-0-1 in five career starts against Vegas with a .946 save percentage.

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WHEN THE SHARKS DEFENSE GET HEALTHY, WHO COMES OUT?: Radim Simek (upper body) could be back as soon as Monday as well, but perhaps there’s no need to rush since Fredrik Claesson and Nicolas Meloche have fairly played well as the third defense pair.

But our guess is when Simek comes back, Meloche comes out, even though that would mean the Sharks would be dressing five left-shot defenseman. Against the best teams, we think Boughner would err on the side of experience. When Karlsson comes back, and assuming Simek is in the lineup by that point, Claesson would come out.

WHAT RECORD WILL THE SHARKS BE SATISFIED WITH?: These are home games, so the Sharks want to come out with more than a .500 points percentage. But ending up with eight or nine points, with three or four regulation or overtime wins mixed in, wouldn’t be the worst thing.

SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 13: The San Jose Sharks’ Evander Kane (9) and the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ Reilly Smith (19) fight in the third period, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021, at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) 

HOW HEATED WILL THE VEGAS GAMES BECOME?: Hockey is just better when there’s a little bit of hate involved, and the Sharks will likely be looking for a bit of payback on Jonathan Marchessault for his hit/cross check on Simek last Saturday.

Alex Tuch, too, didn’t like what Evander Kane did to Reilly Smith in the third period of the last game. But Kane can’t get goaded into needless extracurricular activities, especially with Ryan Reaves. Still, there’s three games between the two teams. You can’t expect guys to be on their best behavior all that time, right?

IS BALCERS A TOP SIX WINGER?: Rudolfs Balcers has been given a terrific opportunity to solidify a spot in the Sharks’ top six forward group, playing alongside Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl. The trio had an exceptional game Saturday, generating seven scoring chances, per naturalstattrick.com, as Hertl assisted on Balcers’ first goal as a Shark in the second period.

It’s one thing to do for a night or two. It’s quite another to do it consistently. But if Balcers can stay productive and cement a spot as a second line winger, it’ll solve one of the Sharks’ bigger personnel issues.

SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: San Jose Sharks’ Rudolfs Balcers #92 moves the puck past Anaheim Ducks’ Kevin Shattenkirk #22 behind the goal during the third period of their NHL game at the Sap Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

CAN THE PENALTY KILL GET BACK ON TRACK?: The Sharks killed all three penalties they took Saturday, marking just the second time in six games the unit has been perfect. One of the kills came late in the third period when the Sharks were whistled for delay of game (puck over glass).

It’s good for the Sharks’ penalty kill to go into this week with a bit of confidence. Aside from Colorado, which entered Saturday with the 10th-best power play in the league, the three other teams — Vegas, St. Louis and Minnesota — all had units ranked in the bottom half.

Of course, the Golden Knights converted on 3 of 5 tries with the man advantage against the Sharks on Feb. 13, so those statistics may only end up meaning so much.

CAN THE SHARKS CONSISTENTLY DRAW PENALTIES?: Saturday marked the first time all season the Sharks have not had a single power play. They also had just one power play on Thursday when they lost to St. Louis 3-2 in overtime.

The Sharks were upset when a penalty wasn’t called on the Blues in the second period for what they felt was a trip on Nikolai Knyzhov, just a few seconds before Brayden Schenn scored to cut the Sharks’ lead to 3-1.

The Sharks have had only 11 power play opportunities over their last seven games.

“That was a pretty easy call for me,” Boughner said, “and we haven’t been on the right side of those.”