SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks will be down another veteran forward for at least the next week as Barclay Goodrow was placed on injured reserve Thursday with an upper-body ailment that stemmed from a high hit he took in the team’s game against the Ottawa Senators.
Goodrow was on his first shift of Wednesday’s game against the Senators at SAP Center when he went after a loose puck in the Sharks’ end that Jan Rutta had rimmed around the boards. Senators forward Ridly Greig then caught Goodrow up high with a hit that sent the San Jose forward sprawling to the ice.
Greig was called for interference on the play at the 1:50 mark of the first period. Goodrow remained in the game and played three more shifts before he started to feel the effects of the hit and left the Sharks’ bench.
The Sharks lost 4-3 to the Senators as Adam Gaudette scored the game-winner with 4:12 left in regulation time. Mario Ferraro, Macklin Celebrini, and Will Smith scored for San Jose, which erased a 3-1 deficit before Gaudette’s goal.
“It happens quick. The refs have a quick decision to make,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said when asked if Greig’s hit warranted more than a two-minute penalty. “They can’t go back and look at it in slow motion. It wasn’t a great hit. I didn’t like it, I can tell you that.”
Goodrow will have to miss at least the next three games, starting with a home-and-home series against the Seattle Kraken on Friday at SAP Center. After Saturday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena, San Jose will head east for five games, starting with a date against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
Goodrow will not fly with the Sharks to Seattle after Friday’s game but could rejoin the team on the road. He would be eligible to come off IR before the Sharks play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 5 in the second game of the trip.
Goodrow, who has two goals and was averaging over 15 minutes of ice time in 24 games before Wednesday, won the Stanley Cup with the Lighting in 2020 and 2021.
The Sharks recalled forward Ethan Cardwell from the San Jose Barracuda to take Goodrow’s place on the roster. Cardwell was also with the Sharks for three games from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 when Ty Dellandrea was on IR.
Cardwell did not have a point in three games with the Sharks but averaged 12:44 in ice time as he became one of the team’s penalty-killers. Warsofsky said Cardwell’s penalty-killing prowess was one of the reasons he was recalled.
Cardwell has seven points in 13 games for the Barracuda this season. He skated on a line Thursday morning with Nico Sturm and Klim Kostin, although the Sharks’ forward lines were a bit jumbled with both Alexander Wennberg and Luke Kunin given maintenance days.
Wennberg and Kunin will both play against the Kraken, Warsofsky said.
The Sharks are already without Logan Couture (osteitis pubis), who is out indefinitely, and could again be without Mikael Granlund (upper body) for a third straight game.
Granlund participated fully in Thursday’s practice, skating on a line with Tyler Toffoli and Will Smith. But Warsofsky said Granlund, who leads the Sharks with 24 points in 23 games, remains day-to-day, and his availability for Friday will be determined closer to game time.
VANECEK STARTS: Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek will start Friday’s matinee against the Kraken, Warsofsky said. Vanecek, who hasn’t started since he was injured in the first period of a Nov. 16 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, confirmed to this news organization Thursday that was again 100% healthy.
Vanecek hasn’t played in the last six games, and his last win came on Nov. 5 when he made 49 saves in the Sharks’ 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. He is 1-1-0 with a .902 save percentage in two career games against the Kraken.
With Vanecek starting Friday, the Sharks will likely turn to Mackenzie Blackwood for Saturday’s game.
NOTABLE: The Sharks kept their top line together for Thursday’s practice with Celebrini in the middle and William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund on the wings. The three combined for 12 shots on net and, per Natural Stat Trick, five high-danger scoring chances during 5-on-5 play … Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who has yet to play this season with an upper-body injury, practiced again on Thursday. Still, it remained unclear as to when he might get added to the Sharks’ active roster. Warsofsky said it’s possible that Vlasic could be ready at some point during the team’s road trip, which lasts until Dec. 12.
