Darnell Nurse back in Sharks lineup vs. Red Wings

Word started leaking out about an hour before puck drop, and the first version came with a caveat attached.

Curtis Pashelka

@CurtisPashelka

Still unconfirmed, but per @NatalieNoury, Darnell Nurse is expected to return to the Sharks' lineup tonight.

Then the lines came out and settled it. Nurse slots back in on a pair with Kesselring, Cagnoni comes out, and Alex Nedeljkovic gets the net.

Sheng Peng

@Sheng_Peng

#SJSharks lines tonight, Nurse back in for Cagnoni: Chernyshov-Celebrini-Smith Marchment-Wennberg-Toffoli Stenberg-Misa-Sherwood Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Graf Nurse-Kesselring Dickinson-Trouba Allan-Orlov Nedeljkovic

Here's why anyone was holding their breath. Late in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Boston, Nurse dropped the gloves with Nikita Zadorov, the 6'7" Bruins defenseman who's one of the scariest fighters in the league. Nurse got dumped awkwardly into the boards and the ice and didn't finish the game. Ryan Warsofsky said afterward he had no update and wouldn't guess about the road trip. Nurse skated Thursday morning and said he felt fine, but San Jose sat him for the opener of the 6-game trip in Nashville anyway.

The Sharks got by without him. Nolan Allan, who'd been a healthy scratch 5 straight games, stepped in and drove play at 5-on-5, and San Jose beat the Predators in a shootout. It was the same story as always though: the Sharks came into tonight 4-3-0 without a single regulation win. Every win has needed extra time, and Nurse is the guy who got them one of those, burying the overtime winner against St. Louis on October 8 for his first goal as a Shark.

Warm-ups were the last real tell, and he was out there.

Sheng Peng

@Sheng_Peng

Nurse is on the ice for warm-ups, he wasn’t in the last game

This is what Mike Grier was paying for when he sent Shakir Mukhamadullin and prospect Zack Sharp to Edmonton on July 1. Grier called Nurse a veteran who eats top-pair minutes against the other team's best players, and the Sharks are trying to play meaningful hockey around Macklin Celebrini without a defense that can't handle the heavy matchups. A 12-year Oiler in his first month in teal, Nurse missing time this early would've hurt.

The part worth watching is who's left out. Cagnoni had already owned up to his Bruins game ('It's gotta be better'), and with Allan playing well on the third pair alongside Orlov, the kid is the odd man out. Allan-Orlov stays together, Nurse-Kesselring and Dickinson-Trouba fill out the top 4, and the Sharks are going for that first regulation win with their full blue line back.