Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has stated that Jake Guentzel will be a game-time decision Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks. The Lightning forward has been dealing with an upper body injury since Saturday night, when he left early in the third period against the New York Rangers. He did not play on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Lightning are set to start the new year off with a jam-packed month of January, beginning first with a matchup against the San Jose Sharks. In total they’ll play sixteen times, including four sets of back-to-back games in just 21 days.

Vlasic’s playing time has tailed off in recent years and he spent considerable time last season as a healthy scratch. Vlasic averaged over 20 minutes of ice time per game for the first 14 seasons of his NHL career, but that number dipped to 16:17 last season as he played 57 of 82 games.

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks will be without two of their leading scorers and one of their depth players when they face the Philadelphia Flyers looking to end a seven-game losing streak.