4/13 Practice Report: Sharks Hold Team Meeting, Big Change Up Front Tomorrow?

#SJSharks practice supposed to start at 11 AM. Nobody on the ice yet. Team meeting? pic.twitter.com/3Spu5u41se

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 13, 2021

The San Jose Sharks look like they’re changing things up tomorrow.

But before we get to the new lines, good news: Tomas Hertl is practicing, no worse for the wear after a collision with Nikolai Knyzhov last night that sent Hertl into the locker room. Also, Marc-Edouard Vlasic is skating and Joel Kellman has joined the team.

This is how the San Jose Sharks lined up this morning:

Kane-Couture-Balcers

Meier-Hertl-Labanc

Leonard-Gambrell-Donato

Marleau-Handemark-Gregor

Kellman-Gabriel-Viel-Sorensen (extras)

Ferraro-Burns

Knyzhov-Karlsson

Simek-Jaros-Vlasic

This could be the first time in months that the top line won’t play together, with Rudolfs Balcers taking Kevin Labanc’s place up front. Also, it looks like Fredrik Handemark and Noah Gregor will draw in.

On the San Jose Sharks’ back-end, Vlasic appeared to participate in full, but so did Jaros. Will we see an early return from Eddie?

Boughner confirms there was a team meeting before practice, some X's and O's, but also talking to leadership about keeping a positive attitude. He didn't like some of the body language yesterday

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 13, 2021

These were Boughner’s full comments on the team meeting this morning:

“Basically two-fold, some Xs-and-Os things, some mistakes we’ve made, things we need to improve on. But also, getting our attitude, enjoying coming to the rink here, and not wearing the frustration on our face. Getting back to what we were doing a couple weeks ago, having fun, expecting to win games, winning them in all different fashions.

“Once you’re struggling, and some guys are maybe gripping the stick a little tight…we had a lot of scoring chances last night, it’s not going in for us, it’s easy to get frustrated. Those things can manifest, it turns into some bad body language or things that people naturally do when they’re frustrated. It’s just about let’s clear our minds here, let’s tighten it up. It’s slipped a little bit, it’s slipped a bit our game, and we need to get it back to where it was is, as bad as it feels right now. You wake up today, and you’re still in the same place in the standings. You got time, but every moment counts now.”