Tomas Hertl and Calen Addison did not participate in the San Jose Sharks practice today.

Tomas Hertl and Calen Addison did not participate in the San Jose Sharks practice today.

Hertl did not play in the Sharks 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals last night. Addison was in the lineup and played the entire game. He did take a hard hit from Tom Wilson in the first period but remained in the game after going to the locker room for a short time.

Jan Rutta, who is on IR, returned to practice in full for the first time since his injury. He had been taking reps with Matt Benning. 

The focus for Sharks head coach David Quinn was team breakouts and backchecking. They started practice with in-zone offense work but quickly transitioned into neutral zone passing drills.

After some more breakout drills, Quinn and the coaching staff moved into a drill that started with a three-on-two down low. After a brief battle, a whistle would blow, and the other line on the ice would skate a puck on a three-on-two the other way. The first offensive group would then need to backcheck. 

"It was two parts," Quinn explained. "Just our transition defense coming back inside the dots and coming back to the right places but to also work on some of our three-on-twos offensively and our squeezes defensively."

San Jose has allowed a lot of rush chances against them. Quinn knows that turnovers lead to odd-man rushes, and having a clean breakout will be vital for limiting turnovers. 

"You get in trouble when you're hanging below the goal line and behind the net when there's a puck battle going on, and it's a 50-50 situation," Quinn explained about the team offense. "You want to allow guys the freedom to get back [behind the net] because it is a great release point. But when you do it, it is also important."

The Sharks have been trending in the right direction. They have won five of their last seven games at home. Team Teal is still looking for its first road win and take a two-game winning streak into their game against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

Make sure you bookmark THN's San Jose Sharks site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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