SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov was coming off one of his toughest outings as an NHL goalie late last month when he had to focus his attention on facing the team with the league’s most potent offense.
Turns out that game against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 1 — and his adjustment leading up to it — helped turn around the Sharks and Askarov’s season.
Three days after he allowed four goals in 14 shots in a loss to the Los Angeles Kings, Askarov stymied the dangerous Avalanche on Nov. 1 by making 36 saves to help the Sharks pull out a 3-2 win on Philipp Kurashev’s overtime goal.
Going into Wednesday’s rematch against the league-leading Avalanche in Denver, Askarov is now 7-1-0 this month with a .959 save percentage – second-best in the NHL among all goalies with at least five starts – and has been a huge reason why the Sharks have been able to rejoin the playoff race after a 0-4-2 start.
“He’s definitely a confident goaltender right now,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Askarov. “You can see he’s tracking pucks. There’s some calmness in his game, and I think that (game) got him kind of going in the right direction.”
Askarov was 1-4-1 with a .844 save percentage in six games last month. Not every goal he allowed was a result of his poor play, but his numbers were falling short of expectations – his own and external – after he was mostly steady in his 13 games with the Sharks last season.
Askarov said his turnaround from one month to the next has been more about his mental approach than anything.
“The biggest difference was that at the beginning of the season, I would kind of forget my routine,” Askarov said. “Everybody has some bad days, some good days. Our goal is to — if we have a bad day — try to manage the time and try to finish the bad day as quickly as possible, and try to get back to the good days, and try to keep that long as possible.”
Few goalies are having many good days right now, as Askarov, who wore a wide smile as he spoke to the crowd inside SAP Center on Sunday night after his 34-save performance helped the Sharks earn a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins.
In his last 10 games, Askarov, per moneypuck.com, is third in the NHL in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (1.031) and wins above replacement (1.76).
His save percentage this month is the third-best among all Sharks goalies, who played in at least four games, in any month, trailing only Brian Boucher (.966) in March 2008 and James Reimer (.964) in October 2021.
Both of those goalies, though, only played four games each in those months.
“He’s just been unreal,” Sharks center Macklin Celebrini said of Askarov. “You can’t really put it into words. He’s our rock every night, and he’s been incredible.”
The Sharks, though, need to do a better job of helping Askarov and his tandem-mate, Alex Nedeljkovic.
San Jose has allowed an average of 33.25 shots against in Askarov’s eight games this month. In their 12 games this month, the Sharks, per Natural Stat Trick, had, before Tuesday’s games, allowed the fourth-most five-on-five shots against (281) and the eighth-most high-danger chances (116) at even strength.
Turnovers and puck management have been two major culprits.
“I think that’s where we give most of our chances, is in the neutral zone, turning over pucks, not putting it deep,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “I think we’ve done a better job of keeping teams to the outside, but I think just managing the puck better will limit our need to rely on (our goalies) too much.”
The Avalanche (16-1-5) has won nine straight since that loss in San Jose, and only three of those games have been decided by fewer than three goals.
The Avalanche’s 4.00 goals per game lead the NHL, as does their 61 even-strength goals.
The Sharks have an 8-3-1 record this month, but will obviously have their hands full, even with Askarov at his best.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for us, because they have a really good record,” Askarov said of the Avalanche. “So then, like, why not us? It’s going to be interesting.”
“I love it. I think it’s great for our group to go up against this type of challenge,” Warsofsky said of the Avalanche. “No one’s giving us a chance. As a human being, there’s nothing better than that feeling of proving someone wrong. That will be the message to the group, and I think we’re all excited for the challenge.”
TOFFOLI QUESTIONABLE
Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli came down with an illness on Tuesday and did not practice with the team, leaving him questionable to play against Colorado. It was unclear whether Toffoli traveled to Denver with the team on Tuesday afternoon.
Toffoli had an assist in Sunday’s win to snap a five-game point drought and entered this week tied for fifth on the team in scoring with 12 points in 23 games.
If Toffoli is unable to play against the Avalanche, the Sharks will likely play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. San Jose is carrying 12 forwards and nine defensemen, as Vincent Iorio’s conditioning loan with the Barracuda on Monday.