SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek is out indefinitely after he was struck in the face by a puck that was unexpectedly redirected into the team’s bench in the second period of Tuesday night’s game with the Winnipeg Jets.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Wednesday that Vanecek, who is in a contract year and is a pending unrestricted free agent, was being further evaluated by a doctor after the frightening stroke of misfortune. Warsofsky would not say where exactly Vanecek was struck.
“Terrible, awful luck. I feel for him and his family. There’s a lot in play here for him,” Warsofsky said. “We’ve got to get him going. Hopefully, it’s not too long, but you feel for him, and you have to pick him up.”
Tuesday night, Jets defenseman Colin Miller was carrying the puck out of his team’s zone early in the second period when he sent a cross-ice pass intended for defense partner Logan Stanley. Sharks forward William Eklund got his stick on the puck, deflecting it high into the air before Stanley, skating in front of the San Jose bench, tried to knock it down with his stick.
Instead, the puck was redirected right into Vanecek’s face.
Vanecek was quickly tended to by a member of the Sharks’ training staff and was led back into the team’s dressing room. The Sharks announced early in the third period that Vanecek would not be available for the rest of the game.
Longtime Sharks television color analyst Drew Remenda was standing close to Vanecek, who was sitting down when the puck hit him. Backup goalies wear their pads, plus their glove and a blocker, while on the bench. But rarely, if ever, do they wear their masks.
“Stanley goes to knock it down and it hit Vitek right in the face, unfortunately,” Remenda said on the air of the puck. “He’s got attention right away by the doctors. That’s brutal.”
The accident happened shortly after Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli scored his 13th goal of the season at the 1:52 mark of the second period to tie the game 1-1. The Sharks would lose to the Jets 4-3.
“We’re here for him,” Warsofsky said of Vanecek. “Teammates, coaches, management, and everyone in this building is going to be here for him to get him back, get him healthy, and get him going again.”
With Vanecek now unavailable, the Sharks recalled goalie Yaroslav Askarov from the Barracuda on Wednesday morning. He and Alexander Georgiev will form the Sharks’ goalie tandem for the foreseeable future, starting with Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center.
The Sharks then play two more road games before Christmas, as they face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and the Vancouver Canucks on Monday before beginning a three-day break.
On Dec. 9, the Sharks acquired Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, and two draft picks from the Avalanche in exchange for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith, and a draft pick.
Vanecek was backing up Georgiev, who started against the Jets and finished with 29 saves. Backup goalies during Sharks games at SAP Center usually sit a few feet behind the team’s bench at the entranceway to the dressing room.
The 28-year-old Vanecek, in his first full season with the Sharks after he was acquired from the New Jersey Devils in March, is 3-8-1 this season with a .885 save percentage in 14 games. He missed three games in November with an upper-body ailment after he was injured during the Sharks’ Nov. 16 game in Pittsburgh.
Askarov, 22, has played in two games for the Sharks this season and is 1-0-1 with a .927 save percentage. In 14 games with the Barracuda, Askarov, acquired from the Nashville Predators in August and considered the Sharks goalie of the future, is 9-4-1 with three shutouts and a .938 save percentage in 14 games.
“It’s an opportunity,” Warsofsky said of Askarov. “Unfortunate circumstances with Vitek going down, but it’s an opportunity for him to play some games, probably consistently.”
TRADE REVISITED: Blackwood has started two games for the Avalanche since the trade, going 1-1-0 with a .937 save percentage, including a 37-save performance in his home debut on Saturday in a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in Denver.
Likewise, Kovalenko has been a solid addition to his new team, with five assists in four games.
He has played on the Sharks’ top line with Toffoli and Macklin Celebrini in the last three games. Toffoli and Celebrini each had a goal and an assist Tuesday, and Celebrini, with seven points in his last four games, has 22 points in 22 games this season.
“His competitive nature has come out,” Warsofsky said of Kovalenko. “He hunts pucks, he’s on pucks. What impressed me the most was his wall play on breakouts.”
Preceding Toffoli’s goal, Kovalenko won a battle along the wall to get the puck to Celebrini, who fed Toffoli.
“He’s one of the best guys we have on the wall,” Warsofsky said of Kovalenko. “He fights that panic. A lot of times, you get a puck on the wall, you get hit, and you get pinched down by the defenseman. And he’s calm and poised with it. Nine times out of 10, he usually makes the right play, and he executes the play.”