SAN JOSE >> The San Jose Sharks are keeping alive their three-headed monster in net — at least for right now.

Before their game with the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, the Sharks activated center Nico Sturm off injured reserve and assigned defenseman Jack Thompson to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

The transactions left the Sharks with 14 forwards, six defensemen and three goalies: Mackenzie Blackwood, Vitek Vanecek and rookie Yaroslav Askarov. Askarov started against the Kings as the Sharks played the second game of a four-game homestand that ends later this week.

Why the Sharks decided to keep three goalies on their roster for the time being was not immediately clear.

Vanecek last week had been considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, prompting the Sharks to recall Askarov from the AHL on Nov. 18. But Vanecek was healthy enough to back up Blackwood during Saturday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres and was also on the ice Monday morning.

The Sharks are in the middle of one of their busiest stretches of the season, as Monday’s game was their fifth in eight days. They also have games against Ottawa on Wednesday and a home-and-home series with Seattle on Friday and Saturday.

Still, keeping three goalies for any length of time would be unusual, especially considering Askarov, 22, remains waivers exempt and can be returned to the AHL without any restrictions.

Askarov, acquired in a major trade from the Nashville Predators in August, made his Sharks debut on Thursday, making 29 saves in a 3-2 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Askarov allowed a goal to Blues forward Nathan Walker on the first shot he faced 11 seconds into the game. He went behind his net to play the puck but sent it right to Radek Faksa, who found Walker open for a tap-in goal with Askarov out of position.

Askarov, though. responded with 14 straight saves to finish the period and had nine saves in the third period to help send the game into overtime.

“You can tell he’s quick, he can play the puck,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Askarov Monday morning. “He makes that one mistake, but the way he responds from it, the mental toughness that he shows to keep pushing forward and make some big saves in St. Louis. You can see the bright future that he has, his quickness.

“I think everyone’s really happy where he is in his development here. And we’ll see how the future unfolds.”

Blackwood and Vanecek are pending unrestricted free agents, and speculation is that one could be dealt to another team before the NHL trade deadline on March 7.

Kevin Weekes of ESPN and the NHL Network posted on the social media platform X on Monday that the Carolina Hurricanes “are exploring potential goalie options in the market.”

Frederik Andersen is out eight to 12 weeks after knee surgery, and Pyotr Kochetkov left Saturday’s game at Columbus after colliding with defenseman Sean Walker. Kochetkov is now in concussion protocol.

Sturm’s return to the Sharks’ active roster was imminent after he showed signs of improvement last week and practiced with the team on Sunday. He also took part in the Sharks’ morning skate on Monday.

Sturm, injured earlier this month in a game against the New York Rangers, is the Sharks’ faceoff leader by percentage and is one of the team’s leading penalty-killing forwards.

Thompson has been on the Sharks’ roster for almost the entire season and played in 13 of the team’s 23 games. His five points are third-most among all Sharks defensemen, as he averaged just under 16 minutes of ice time per game.

VLASIC UPDATE: >> Injured since the start of training camp, veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic could be activated on the Sharks’ upcoming road trip, Warsofsky said Monday. Vlasic has been skating with the Sharks recently, including Monday morning, and was on the team’s road trip last week through Dallas and St. Louis.

After Saturday’s game in Seattle, the Sharks head east for games against Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Carolina before the final stop in St. Louis on Dec. 12.

“He’s inching closer. Probably sometime on that road trip, he’ll be ready to go,” Warsofsky said of Vlasic. “He’s just got to practice. Missing training camp, he’s had two practices with us, and he needs more practice time.”

Vlasic, 37, missed all of camp with an injury he said last month was “a lot of the upper back, actually.” Once Vlasic had an MRI on the affected area, he “realized it was pretty bad.”

Vlasic, now in his 19th NHL season, needs to play just four more games to reach 1,300 for his NHL career. His 1,296 games in a Sharks uniform is the second-most in team history, behind only Patrick Marleau’s 1,607. Only 71 players in NHL history have played at least 1,300 games.

Henry Thrun returned to the Sharks lineup Monday after he was scratched for the last two games against St. Louis and Buffalo.

MUSTY INJURED: >> Sharks prospect Quentin Musty reportedly broke his hand in an Ontario Hockey League game Sunday night and may be unable to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championships, which begin next month in Canada.

Musty, a winger for the Sudbury Wolves and a Sharks 2023 first-round draft pick, broke his hand in a game against the Oshawa Generals, longtime OHL insider Jeff Marek posted Monday on the social media platform X. The injury, per Marek, is expected to keep him off Team USA’s roster for the World Juniors, which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Ottawa.

Musty, from Hamburg, N.Y., just outside of Buffalo, had hoped to be part of the American team seeking its second straight gold medal.

Per Marek, Musty’s injury will also keep him out of Sudbury’s lineup past the OHL trade deadline of Jan. 10. After being reassigned by the Sharks back to junior hockey in September, Musty wanted to be traded rather than return to Sudbury.

No such trade occurred, and Musty ended the standoff, returning to Sudbury in early November. In 11 games with Sudbury, Musty had eight goals and 12 assists.