SAN JOSE – Logan Couture was stationed in the slot on Sunday as the San Jose Sharks went through a power play drill at one end of the ice. Right after he gave himself a bit of space, he took a quick, short pass from forward William Eklund and fired a shot that found the twine past the shoulder of goalie Kaapo Kahkonen.
“Felt nice to see it go in. An actual live goal,” Couture said after practice. “First time since whenever I scored last year. We’ll count that one. I’ve got one on the year now.”
Now it’s a matter of when he’ll score the second.
Couture, out with a lower-body injury since before training camp, will join the Sharks on their upcoming five-game road trip but it remains unclear as to when he’ll play his first game of the season.
Sunday, in what he said was his third or fourth full practice, Couture took part in power-play drills and skated at times on a line with Luke Kunin and Justin Bailey.
The Sharks leave Monday for their road trip but Couture said he won’t be ready to play Tuesday when the Sharks face the Toronto Maple Leafs, a disappointment for him considering this is San Jose’s one trip to his native Southern Ontario.
Before he returns, Couture said he’ll have to see how he feels on an everyday basis and consult with the team’s medical staff, as the eight-day trip continues with stops in Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo, and Chicago.
“Nothing’s changed,” Couture said in terms of his timeline. “I’m closer to playing, I guess you could say. But until I actually get into a game, it’s always just going to be a question mark as to when it’s going to happen here. So nothing really has changed in that aspect.
“Practicing with the guys, I feel like myself more on the ice each time. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
Still, Sharks coach David Quinn remained optimistic that Couture will play at some point on the trip, which ends Jan. 16 in Chicago.
“It’s day to day, but that day may come sooner than later,” Quinn said. “There’s a light at the tunnel.”
Couture’s presence on the ice Sunday appeared to provide a boost to a Sharks team that’s on an 11-game losing streak and in last place in the NHL’s overall standings. The undermanned Sharks (9-28-3) need to outwork their opponents to have any chance at success, and for the better part of two periods Saturday, that didn’t happen in what became a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.
“No matter how many games in a row you lose, it sucks losing,” said Couture, who has 323 goals and 700 points in 927 NHL games.
“Guys still showed up and practiced really hard today. That’s all you can ask after a tough loss is to show up the next day and work and try to improve, and work on different areas of our game. I thought we did that today. … I would chalk it up as a good day.”
Couture’s teammates know his value and how much work he’s had to put into getting closer to full health again.
“It’s nice to have him out there. Be around, be a part of it, be in the room,” Kunin said. “He’s our captain. He’s one of our best players. What he does for the group is huge and it’s always fun having him out there.”
STURM IMPROVING: It was initially feared that Sharks center Nico Sturm’s hand injury would keep him out for up to six weeks. But Sturm, now over three weeks removed from when he was hurt on Dec. 12, said Sunday that he expects to beat that timeline, although he doesn’t have a specific date in mind.
Sturm said he’s now able to shoot the puck, compared to a week ago when he was simply pushing it around, and contended that his fitness level is even better now than before.
“So as soon as the hand is good, I can go,” said Sturm, who did drills on his own Sunday on a separate ice surface. “Maybe one practice or one pregame skate, and I’ll play.”
The Sharks, perhaps remarkably, are 0-14-0 this without Sturm in the lineup. Besides the previous 11 games, Sturm was away from the team for games vs. Seattle and Vancouver in November for personal reasons, and missed San Jose’s game against the New York Rangers because of a different injury. The Sharks lost all three of those games.
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“I don’t want to say the success of the team hinges on me. I would never say that about myself,” Sturm said. “But it’s hard to play center in the NHL and if you have two centers missing that are regulars, it’s tough for guys that don’t play center in the NHL every day to just fill in. It’s probably the hardest position to play.”
Sturm is one of the NHL’s leaders in the faceoff circle at 62.1%, and is among the Sharks’ leading penalty-killing forwards.
“He brings an element to our team that makes everybody else better,” Quinn said of Sturm. “That third center makes a world of difference because with his speed, his wingers have to skate to keep up with him. So the pace of our team looks different.”
Quinn noted that Couture, Sturm and defenseman Matt Benning, now out for the season after he had hip surgery last month, help drive the bus in terms of the Sharks’ compete level.
‘If you had to rank our most competitive players, they’d be in the top five, all three of them,” Quinn said. “It hurts, for sure.”
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