SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks made progress during the 2024 calendar year. They’ve been more competitive this season, have continued to bolster their prospect pool, and now have what appears to be a future franchise centerman in Macklin Celebrini.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the Sharks will head into 2025 on an eight-game losing streak, one that threatens to get even longer, considering who they play over the next week.
On Tuesday, the Sharks took a step back.
They looked flat, could not finish a handful of scoring chances, and allowed two power-play goals in a 4-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers before an announced New Year’s Eve crowd of 14,816 at SAP Center.
“Not our best effort,” Sharks center Mikael Granlund said. “We really couldn’t get anything going. We’ve got to be better.”
Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 17 of the first 20 shots he faced but allowed an even-strength goal to Nick Seeler in the first period and back-breaking power-play goals to Ryan Poehling and Travis Konecny in the second.
Egor Zamula then dashed any hopes of a Sharks rally at the 2:30 mark of the third, as his shot from behind the net went off defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and past Georgiev for his third goal of the season and a Flyers 4-0 lead.
The Sharks (11-23-6) have lost 11 of their last 12 games and are 0-7-1 since a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 12.
“We need many more from everyone,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Everyone.”
The problem for San Jose is that Tuesday’s game against the Flyers (16-17-4) might have been its most winnable for the rest of the homestand.
The Sharks face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, and the Vegas Golden Knights next Tuesday. All three teams are in a playoff position, and the Sharks have already been blown out by Tampa Bay and Vegas this season.
“Very disappointing. No desperation, and now you’re seeing teams that are finding their identity in the league,” Warsofsky said. “Earlier on, I think we were probably catching teams by surprise. Now, this is full go. We’re into almost January now.
“Every night, it’s going to be a dogfight. Every night, we’re going to get teams’ best because they’re fighting for playoff spots. They’re fighting for spots in their divisions, standings, wherever it might be, and we have to realize that.”
Three takeaways from Tuesday:
LETHARGIC GAME: One would figure the Sharks would come out with all kinds of energy Tuesday, considering their recent string of defeats, including a 6-3 loss to the Golden Knights on Friday and a 3-1 loss to the Flames on Saturday.
An ‘enough is enough’ approach was needed against the middling Flyers.
That didn’t quite happen. While Tyler Toffoli and Luke Kunin had breakaway chances, and both Toffoli and Macklin Celebrini had shots that hit the post. Too often in the offensive zone, the Sharks were one and done, as they struggled to establish a forecheck or maintain offensive zone pressure in the early going.
As a result, they managed just seven shots in the first period and eight more in the second.
“You’ve got to keep working on finding different solutions and finding the answers,” Warsofsky said. “We’ve obviously tried some things throughout the season to keep getting that desperation and understand the competitiveness that you need to play with.
“We’ve done it at times, but we’re in a little bit of a lull right now, for whatever reason, and I’ve got to figure it out.”
OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES: The Sharks’ longest losing streak this season is nine games. That record is in real jeopardy, considering how lackluster the offense looks.
The Sharks have managed just one goal over their last seven periods. That was a power play marker from Celebrini in the second period of Saturday’s loss to the Flames.
Celebrini and Will Smith accounted for two of the Sharks’ better scoring chances in the opening period.
First, Celebrini and Smith came in on a 2-on-1, and after a give-and-go, Celebrini snapped a shot that glanced off Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson and off the post at the 17:34 mark. Later, Smith, carrying the puck into the neutral zone, fired an 80-foot diagonal tape-to-tape pass to Celebrini, whose shot got past Ersson but didn’t have enough steam to cross the goal line.
Going into Thursday, leading scorer Granlund and middle-six center Alexander Wennberg both have just two assists in his last seven games, and Nikolai Kovalenko has no points in five games. To Granlund’s credit, he was more effective Tuesday than in recent games.
On the offensive end, it’s easy to see that the Sharks miss their top-scoring winger in William Eklund, and top-scoring defenseman in Jake Walman. Those two, both injured, have a combined 52 points in 67 games this season. The Sharks power play is now 2-for-13 over the last six games.
GOALIE QUESTION: Goalie Yaroslav Askarov has played well in three starts since his most recent recall from the Barracuda on Dec. 18; he is 0-2-1 and has stopped 89 of 98 shots for a solid .908 save percentage.
With the Sharks set to play a steady number of games next month, Warsofsky said he wanted to give Georgiev a chance to play Tuesday to keep him and Askarov fresh. Still, one wonders if Warsofsky might give Askarov some starts in a row, just to help give his team the best possible chance to win.
