The Sharks are changing up their look Tuesday night, and the biggest tweak is up front: Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith are being split for the first time this season as San Jose tries to squeeze more production out of its five-on-five game.
Celebrini is set to center the top line against the Buffalo Sabres at SAP Center, flanked by Collin Graf and Ivar Stenberg. Smith shifts to right wing on the second line alongside Mason Marchment and center Michael Misa.
“Just to kind of balance our lines, really, is where it starts,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the move. “We looked at it, and we haven’t generated a whole lot of 5-on-5. So we’ve got to try to get something going.”
That concern is hard to miss in the numbers. Entering Tuesday, the Sharks had scored only 16 goals at 5-on-5 in 12 games, the sixth-lowest total in the NHL. With center Alexander Wennberg and winger Igor Chernyshov out for at least a few more weeks, San Jose is searching for answers elsewhere.
Celebrini and Smith have been the team’s most dangerous pair so far, combining for nine of the Sharks’ 36 goals, with three of those coming on the power play. They also sit first and second on the club in shots on net, with Celebrini at 40 and Smith at 33.
Even with the even-strength change, the two remain together on the same power-play unit, joined by Stenberg, Marchment and defenseman Dmitry Orlov.
“Try to give it a different look,” Smith said of the forward lines. “Bring a different spark to a different line, try to create something and see how it goes.”
The Sharks are also shaking up the blue line. Jacob Trouba will be paired with Darnell Nurse, while Sam Dickinson is set alongside Michael Kesselring. Luca Cagnoni is back in the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch for the last three games, replacing Nolan Allan and skating with Orlov.
In goal, Yaroslav Askarov gets the start against Buffalo, his third in the last five games. He’s coming off a strong stretch against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators last week, when he stopped 70 of 74 shots for a .946 save percentage.
Warsofsky said the Sharks are hopeful Wennberg can begin skating by the end of the week. The veteran center suffered an upper-body injury against the Maple Leafs on Oct. 19 and, like Chernyshov, is considered week-to-week.
Warsofsky said he would not put Wennberg ahead of Chernyshov on the return timeline. Chernyshov was hurt while blocking a shot in the Sharks’ game against the Senators on Oct.
Quentin Musty is also making progress. Warsofsky said the winger, who injured his upper body during the Sharks’ Rookie Faceoff event in September before training camp and started the season on injured non-roster status, has taken a positive step by skating on his own in recent days.
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