For the second time within a week, it appears Yaroslav Askarov will return from injury against the St. Louis Blues.
The Sharks' netminder had a strong start to Thursday's game against the Blues, but was injured when defenseman Vincent Desharnais pushed Blues forward Nathan Walker on top of him. Before being replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic, Askarov saved all 11 shots that he faced.
Now, it appears that Askarov will get another opportunity against St. Louis. According to Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, he was the first goalie off of the ice at this morning's morning skate:
As the Sharks' starting goaltender this season, Askarov has appeared in 41 games. He's registered an .888 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.52. Although he faces a high number of shots, the analytics don't favor the 23-year-old netminder either. He's allowed 131 goals despite an expected goals against of 120.62, a discrepancy of 10.4 goals or 8.61%.
With that said though, the Sharks' defense hasn't made things easy for any goaltender this season.