SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks will be without leading scorer Mikael Granlund for a second straight game Wednesday when they face the Ottawa Senators at SAP Center.
Granlund was on the ice for the Sharks’ morning skate at their practice facility but later left and did not participate in the team’s line rushes.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Wednesday that Granlund remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury but could not specify whether the Finnish-born forward will have to go on injured reserve.
“He skated today, so (that’s) a positive,” Warsofsky said. “I haven’t got a report of how it went, but (he’s) completely day-to-day right now.”
Granlund, who plays in all situations, has nine goals and a team-leading 24 points in 23 games this season and leads all of the team’s forwards in average time on ice (21:15).
Warsofsky would not confirm when Granlund was injured.
Granlund had to leave the Sharks’ road game against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 20 late in the third period because he went into concussion protocol, but he came back and played in games against the St. Louis Blues the following night and the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 23.
Granlund had to miss the Sharks’ game against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, when San Jose scored five goals in the third period to earn a 7-2 win. The Sharks (7-12-5) are 1-1-0 on this homestand, which ends Friday afternoon with a game against the Seattle Kraken.
The Sharks’ top line had center Macklin Celebrini with wingers William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund, and the second line featured Alexander Wennberg, Luke Kunin and Tyler Toffoli.
Wennberg is on a team-leading three-game point streak and before Wednesday, had 13 points in 24 games, more than half of the 25 points he had last season in 60 games between the Kraken and New York Rangers.
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood will start for the fourth time in the last six games for the Sharks, who are 4-5-3 this month. Blackwood has a 3-2-2 record in seven career games against the Senators. In seven games this month, Blackwood has a 2-4-1 record and a .920 save percentage.
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