NHL

The Sharks may use him up front and dress seven defensemen in Game 4. "I'll go in wherever they want me to right now," said Demers, who practiced at forward and on defense Monday. The team is dealing with injuries to Adam Burish and Martin Havlat in addition to Raffi Torres' second-round suspension, which may place Demers at forward on Tuesday night.

He has won 62.7 percent (32 of 51) of his draws against the Kings going into Tuesday night's Game 4 match-up. Thornton won just 39 of his 83 faceoffs in San Jose's four-game sweep versus Vancouver in Round 1. "The last couple games, it's been working out for me. Hopefully I can continue that," Thornton said. "Puck possession is everything, so as much as you can have the puck, it's better to get on offense. It's a competitive situation. You just try to win as many as you can." Thornton has collected an assist in each of the Sharks' past two games to give him eight points in seven playoff outings.

He took line rushes on the team's fifth combination with injured winger Adam Burish and suspended winger Raffi Torres. "I feel good. It's just a question of getting back into game shape," said Demers. "As soon as you do a couple of shifts, especially in this kind of series, you'll be in shape real quick. I'm just helping out wherever I can, and going where they tell me to go." He hasn't played since April 18 because of a sprained left ankle, but he might be available for Game 4.

"That's on my timeline. I'd like to get back," said Burish. "If the doctors let me, I'd play tomorrow if I could. My goal is to get back in this series sometime. When that is, I don't know. It will be between us and the coaches and the doctors to see when that is. But, I'll be ready whenever it is." Coach Todd McLellan said that Burish may be further along than the team had originally thought.

He was hurt during the second period of Game 3 but returned later in the frame and scored the game-winning goal in overtime.

Coach Todd McLellan made the call on Sunday after Havlat didn't practice. He didn't take part in Monday's session either. "If you're hurt and you can't play, you can't play," McLellan said. "We can be as frustrated as we want. It was hard because we had to juggle the lineup, but we talked about the difference between being injured and hurt. He's injured."

Stuart's bad pass went directly to Toffoli who backhanded the puck over Antti Niemi, tying the game at one. But he had a big hit on Justin Williams later in the period and ended up with five hits and four blocked shots. "You make a mistake, and all you can do is try not to let it affect the rest of your game," Stuart said after Game 3. "You just hope the team pulls it out. It was a tight game. I'd like that back, but it happens. I just tried to put it behind me and not let it affect the rest of the game."