Sounds like San Jose is going with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach tonight.
Head coach Todd McLellan said he liked what he saw from his Game 6 lineup -- the one that earned a 2-1 victory and forced Game 7 -- and didn’t appear ready to switch things up.
“The adjustments the players made, give them credit for that,” McLellan told the San Jose Mercury News. “They were much sharper, they executed better, they were hungrier to execute and make plays, and I hope they expect that from each other again.”
The big change in Game 6 was Adam Burish, who came in and made his series debut after breaking his hand in the opening round against Vancouver.
He, along with Andrew Desjardins and Bracken Kearns, gave the Sharks plenty of energy -- something defenseman Jason Demers failed to do when he played Game 5 as a forward and logged just 3:47 of ice time.
The Burish-Desjardins-Kearns line combined for four hits and six shots on goal with Burish going a perfect 4-for-4 in the faceoff circle.
Demers figures to be the odd man out tonight along with Tim Kennedy, who played Games 2 and 4 of the series.