As bad as the Sharks’ Tuesday night loss to Vegas was – and it was pretty bad – there are plenty of reasons for optimism as San Jose turns the page to the NHL’s Christmas break.
Despite looking dead in the water in their lopsided 7-2 loss to the Golden Knights, the Sharks remain in prime position to chase a playoff spot when the NHL season resumes on Saturday.
The Sharks are two points behind Utah and Los Angeles for a wild card spot and have been lurking in the playoff hunt for months. They will travel to face the Vancouver Canucks when the regular season restarts Saturday night.
Macklin Celebrini has established himself as a bona fide star. The second-year winger added another goal Tuesday night to reach 55 points this season, which ranks third in the league behind established superstars Connor McDavid (67) and Nathan MacKinnon (61).
And promising young players like Collin Graf have come along for the ride. Now, it’s a matter of whether they’re ready to take the next step and seize a playoff berth.
The three-day break should be beneficial for the Sharks as they rest ailing minds and bodies, though coach Ryan Warsofsky admitted it won’t be a panacea to fix all their injuries in one fell swoop.
“I don’t know if three days will cure the injuries, but more so mentally, we’ve all been grinding here,” Warsofsky said after Monday’s practice. “Coaches, players, trainers, equipment guys, nice to have three days just to regroup. We got to focus on tomorrow night. But everyone’s looking forward to the three days for sure.”
While San Jose may in fact have been looking ahead, the Sharks will now have a long-awaited chance to refocus.
If Warsofsky had one Christmas wish, he’d probably spend it on the returns of top-six wingers Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev, plus injured defensemen Timothy Liljegren and Vincent Desharnais.
Smith and Kurashev will likely have to wait until the new year to get back on the ice. But Liljegren is scheduled to be reevaluated on Friday and has avoided going on injured reserve thus far.
Whoever the Sharks put out on the ice should have a good chance to get back on track in Vancouver. The Canucks are the worst team in the Pacific Division, second-worst in the NHL and recently traded their best player, defenseman Quinn Hughes, to Minnesota.
It’d be hard to draw up a better get-right opportunity for a team reeling from one of its worst performances of the season.
“It wasn’t our night tonight,” forward Tyler Toffoli, who had the primary assist on both Sharks goals, told reporters after Tuesday’s game. “Obviously, it’s disappointing. It’ll be good to take a few days here to reset and be ready for a push here after Christmas.”
Though the Sharks have 45 games still to play, they will be afforded one more quick sprint to the finish before getting another break.
San Jose will play 18 games from Dec. 27-Feb. 4 before taking an extended pause for the Olympic hockey tournament in Milan. The Sharks will resume play on Feb. 26.
Celebrini is among the Sharks players expected to be selected for various national teams, keeping it from being a true break for the entire squad. But this next stretch will go a long way in determining whether San Jose is a real playoff contender this season.
“I’m not really looking at the playoff picture so much,” Warsofsky said. “I’m more looking at our process and the lessons that we’re learning along the way and how we need to play as a team. Can we get to our identity as a team and the way we want to play more consistently? Everyone and every team is trying to grow their game and somewhat be perfect. That’s a hard thing to do.
“But we’ve learned some lessons about our group here early on, what gives us success and what hurts us? Can we get that down a little bit in some areas of our game? When we play the right way, we’re a pretty damn good hockey team, and we just have to find that consistency.”