It was starting to become evident with the way they had been playing in recent games – beating several playoff-caliber teams — that things were going to be a bit different this season for the San Jose Sharks.
Now, after six seasons of finishing out of the playoff race and two years at the bottom of the NHL standings, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky has made it official:
The rebuild is over in San Jose.
Trailing by a goal and looking lifeless through the first two periods, the Sharks got a power play goal from Will Smith, an overtime goal from Collin Graf, and tremendous goaltending from Yaroslav Askarov to earn a 2-1 comeback win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
Now the Sharks (8-6-3) will be looking for their fifth straight victory on Thursday when they play the Calgary Flames in the second game of a three-game road trip.
The Sharks may not have necessarily deserved the two points on Tuesday or the win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday. But good teams find ways, and the Sharks are now on their first four-game win streak since the start of the 2021-22 season.
“I think we just knew we needed to be better,” Smith told reporters. “Every guy, starting with our line, we had to be better. (Askarov) keeping us in that, a 1-0 game after 40, after playing like that, was pretty good for us. That helped us get it done.”
By going 6-0-1 since a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Sharks entered Wednesday in a playoff spot.
Who knows how long they can stay there, but it’s safe to say that their days of taking whatever moral victories they can get while being the NHL’s doormats are over.
“Probably in years past we punted this game and just moved on and took the loss,” Warsofsky said. “Whether it’s 2-0 or whatever it was – that’s over. We’re done punting games. We’re done saying we’re competitive.
“We’re trying to win hockey games.”
Three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
ASKAROV’S BRILLIANCE
Can the Sharks stay in the mix for a playoff spot this season? If they continue to get goaltending like this, there’s no question.
Askarov made 22 saves through a busy first two periods and finished with 28 as he won for the fifth time in his last six starts.
In that time, Askarov has a .923 save percentage. After being near the bottom in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes after the first two weeks of the season, Askarov, in that category, now ranks ninth among the 23 goalies who have played at least 10 games with a mark of 0.379, per moneypuck.com.
The Sharks also went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, aided by Askarov’s five saves.
He’s as much a reason to believe in this Sharks team as any.
Warsofsky said the Sharks’ first two periods were “arguably our worst two first periods of the year. But we found a way, and that’s the most important thing. It’s a hard league to win in, so we can’t dwell on it. There are things we have to get better at. We didn’t have our legs at all.
“(Askarov) was outstanding. Our penalty kill, even though we gave up one, was really good. He was the reason why we had a chance.”
CELEBRINI FINDS GRAF FOR THE OT WINNER
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Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic have now combined to allow just one goal in each of their last four games. Nedeljkovic, though, had to leave the Sharks after Tuesday’s game to tend to a personal matter in San Jose, and it’s unclear if he’ll be able to meet the Sharks in Calgary by Thursday.
Regardless, the Sharks will likely go back to Askarov on Thursday as they look for a fifth straight win, which hasn’t happened since Nov. 2019.
CLUTCH CELEBRINI
The Wild became only the second team this season, after the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 14, to hold Macklin Celebrini without a shot on net as they smothered him during 5-on-5 play. But the 19-year-old wunderkind still made the game’s two biggest plays.
On the game-tying goal, Celebrini, with Wild defenseman David Jiricek serving a penalty for slashing Smith, entered the Minnesota zone and passed to William Eklund, who quickly found Tyler Toffoli near the top of the circles. Toffoli then sent the puck to Celebrini, who one-timed it over to Smith for what was essentially a tap-in goal.
That gave the weary Sharks a big boost.
In overtime, Celebrini was on the ice for almost two minutes before he took a pass from defenseman Sam Dickinson and entered the Wild zone. He then sent a perfect pass that went through the legs of Jonas Brodin to Graf, who went forehand to backhand to beat Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson for the win.
Celebrini is now tied for second in the NHL with 26 points, with 17 of those points coming in just seven road games. Per the Associated Press, his 26 points through the first 17 games of a season are tied for the second most in NHL history by a teenager. Wayne Gretzky had 27 in 1980-81, and Sidney Crosby also had 26 in 2006-07. Both of those players, by the way, won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s MVP.
If Celebrini can get the Sharks to the playoffs, he’ll definitely be in the Hart conversation this season.
WENNBERG LINE
Despite Celebrini’s heroics, the Sharks’ best line during 5-on-5 play on Tuesday was the second line of Eklund, Alexander Wennberg, and Philipp Kurashev. The trio combined for eight of the Sharks’ 18 shots on goal, outchanced their opponents 9-2, per Natural Stat Trick, and created six high-danger chances.
Not only that, but they also helped silence the Wild’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, and Mats Zuccarello at even strength.