SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky sat down with Will Smith before the team’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks and showed him some video clips to help reinforce an important point.
Forget the pressure, and have some fun.
“Enjoy the process. You’re playing in the National Hockey League, and when you were 16 years old, if someone said in three years you’d be in the NHL, you probably would have thought they were nuts,” Warsofsky said of the meeting.
“So enjoy the moment. Enjoy coming to the rink. Enjoy the grind of it and the challenge of getting better each and every day.”
Smith looked like a much happier player Thursday night. Using his laser of a shot, one that hasn’t been seen a ton this season, the teenager scored the first two goals of his NHL career to help lead the Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks, their third straight victory.
After scoring his first goal at the 6:52 mark of the opening period, Smith picked up a second at the 10:42 mark of the second, as his power-play goal gave the Sharks a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Smith didn’t have a point in the first eight games of his NHL career, which was probably the longest scoring drought he’s ever had. But that burden has officially been lifted.
“It’s probably the heaviest weight he’s ever had on his shoulders,” Warsofsky said. “The first time he probably hasn’t gotten points, the team gets off to a little bit of a losing streak, and all those things play into that feeling of that big weight on your shoulders.
“He’s a goal scorer. He’s a playmaker. Wants the puck on his stick. I’m sure (he’ll) sleep a lot nicer tonight.”
Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek had little chance on both of Smith’s wrist shots, as he was beaten high to the blocker side each time. On the second goal, Smith’s shot went in and out of the net so fast that half of the players on the ice thought the play was still going on. It absolutely froze Mrazek.
“It’s a hell of a shot,” said Sharks center Alexander Wennberg, whose goal early in the second period tied the game 2-2. “Obviously it would be nice to have that one, but it’s also fun to sit on the bench and see it.”
Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, who had 29 saves Thursday, including 13 in the third period, has faced Smith plenty of times in practice. He knows how tough that shot is to stop, although he didn’t necessarily want to dole out a ton of compliments to the rookie.
“No comment, I’m not giving him any credit,” Blackwood said of Smith’s quick release. “We’ve got a little rivalry going.”
So who’s winning?
“No comment,” Blackwood said.
Smith just had to take what he’s done in practice into the games. He came into Thursday with 11 shots on goal in eight games, but he had three against the Blackhawks.
“We were watching film, always trying to learn different things, trying to help me,” Smith said of the meeting with Warsofsky. “With every game we do, we try to go over it and I’ll see on things to work on.”
Just hours before Thursday’s game, Sharks radio play-by-play voice Dan Rusanowsky walked by Smith in a hallway near the San Jose locker room and wished him good luck.
Smith, per Rusanowsky, replied, “Tonight’s the night.”
Rusanowsky relayed that to Warsofsky, who also had a feeling Smith was going to snap his mini-slump after their meeting.
Smith didn’t want to delve too deeply into his conversation with Warsofsky, but he clearly emerged from it with some confidence.
”Yeah, I did call it,” Smith confirmed of the brief chat with Rusanowsky.
The Sharks (3-7-2) have many contributors right now. In the last three games, defenseman Jake Walman has seven points, Wennberg and Fabian Zetterlund have four each, and Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund have three each.
The Sharks know they have a lot to clean up before their game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Their confidence is growing for now, as they’ve moved out of last place in the NHL standings, having leaped past Chicago and Nashville with Thursday’s regulation-time win.
“You could just sense, down 2-1, and we knew we would find a way to win a hockey game. You could just feel it, and that’s what we’re trying to build here,” Warsofsky said. “No matter what happens in the game, we have a belief that we’re going to find a way to win a hockey game.
“That’s what great teams do, and we’re going to start building on that.”
It’ll be interesting to see what Smith can do from now on.
“We’re just about to go into November, and I think people freak out a little too much about it,” Smith said of the 0-7-2 start. “We’re going turn this thing around. It’s already happened a little bit here, so we have a great group of guys, and it’s fun here, and even better when we win.”
