San Jose Sharks fans might be thrilled to hear that captain Joe Pavelski is now a game-time decision for Wednesday’s Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, however, we bet his family is pretty worried about his well-being.
We get why…
During the last Game 7 in which he took part against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, Pavelski was cross-checked by Golden Knights center Cody Eakin and then run into by Paul Stastny, which knocked an off-balance Pavelski to the ice. He hit his head, was all bloody on the ice and had to be helped to the dressing room.
While it could have been way worse, like a fractured skull, Pavelski ended up missing six games of Round 2, it now seems like the Sharks are willing to have their captain play for the do or die Game 7 against the Avs.
“I’m not hiding anything,” head coach Pete DeBoer said before the Sharks left Denver for San Jose on Tuesday. “He’s day to day. He’s getting better every day. We’re going to make a decision on game day whether he’s going to be available or not. I don’t have anything more for you. There’s nothing hidden. There’s no secret information here.
“He’d be playing right now if he had a clean bill of health.”
Pavelski believes he can return, and we can understand why: it might be the last game of the season for the Sharks and the captain wants to lead his team to the Western Conference finals.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility, I think, and we’ll see,” Pavelski said about playing. “But it still really is day to day, I think, and go from there. I wish we had a set-in-stone answer. ‘Go here, do this and be ready.’ We’re just kind of taking everything into play.”
We will see if he is allowed to play tomorrow…
