The San Jose Sharks wanted three months — or 42 video games — to get to their tenth win of the season final yr.
Lower than eight weeks into this season, the Sharks reached that mark Tuesday with arguably their most spectacular victory of the yr to date.
William Eklund scored a power-play objective 39 seconds into time beyond regulation because the Sharks continued their current string of robust play with a 2-1 street victory over the Capitals, who got here into the sport because the highest-scoring staff within the NHL.
With Capitals ahead Tom Wilson serving a double-minor for high-sticking Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks having fun with a 4-on-3 man benefit, Eklund took a move from Mikael Granlund and one-timed a shot previous Capitals goalie Logan Thompson for his fifth objective of the season.
“We just were trying to keep calm there. We didn’t want to be too excited to go into overtime on the 4-on-3,” Eklund stated on NBC Sports activities California after the sport, “so we just tried to be calm, and in it went.”
Celebrini had the secondary help on Eklund’s objective to stretch his level streak to 5 video games, because the Sharks (10-13-5) improved to 4-1-0 since their 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 23.
Tyler Toffoli additionally scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood completed with 27 saves because the Sharks received their second straight recreation away from house to start a six-game street journey that continues Thursday towards the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Sharks have been 9-17-3 final season on Dec. 12, 2023, earlier than they started a 12-game shedding streak that didn’t finish till Jan. 11. That’s after they beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 to lastly earn their tenth win. They have been 10-29-3 at that time.
This season is proving to be a lot completely different.
“I think we’re seeing that when we play connected, we’re a really good hockey team, and we can do some things to put teams on their heels,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky stated. “We can make plays, create offense, and change the momentum of games and get on teams.”
The Sharks had a 1-0 lead after the primary interval.
After a Sharks line change, Toffoli took management of the puck within the impartial zone, carried it into the Capitals finish, and beat Thompson with a wrist shot excessive blocker aspect for his tenth objective of the season.
The objective snapped a seven-game objective drought for Toffoli, whose final objective got here in a Nov. 18 recreation towards the Detroit Crimson Wings.
The Sharks have been allowed to take the lead after a strong first interval from Blackwood, who had 16 saves within the opening 20 minutes.
The Capitals tied the sport on the 13:02 mark of the second interval. After Nic Dowd received a faceoff within the Sharks’ zone, he peeled off and located a quiet spot within the slot space. The Sharks overlooked Dowd, who one-timed a shot previous Blackwood for his seventh objective of the season.
Blackwood was coming off a strong 36-save efficiency on Saturday when the Sharks beat the Kraken 4-2 for his or her third win in 4 video games. In his final 11 video games earlier than Tuesday, going again to Oct. 28, Blackwood was 5-5-1 with a .907 save proportion.
The Capitals got here into Tuesday because the NHL’s highest-scoring staff, with a median of 4.21 objectives per recreation. They’d additionally scored a league-leading 69 objectives throughout 5-on-5 play this season.
The Sharks scored 22 objectives of their final 4 video games earlier than enjoying the Capitals, and have been averaging 2.89 objectives per recreation, which is the nineteenth most within the NHL.
SPECIAL GAME: Tuesday’s recreation was additional significant for Warsofsky, who was teaching towards Washington’s bench boss Spencer Carbery as an NHL head coach for the primary time. Warsofsky’s first teaching job in skilled hockey got here in 2013 when he labored on Carbery’s workers with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. The 2 coached collectively for 3 years.
ROSTER CHANGE: The Sharks made one lineup change for Tuesday’s recreation as veteran ahead Carl Grundstrom dressed rather than rookie Ethan Cardwell, who was a wholesome scratch. Grundstrom went 5 video games with no level earlier than he was a wholesome scratch for each video games of the Sharks’ home-and-home collection with the Kraken final week.
Cardwell, who was recalled from Barracuda final week after Barclay Goodrow was positioned on injured reserve, performed in each video games towards the Kraken and scored his first NHL objective in Friday’s 8-5 Sharks win at SAP Middle.
Grundstrom skated on the Sharks’ fourth line with Nico Sturm and Ty Dellandrea.
VLASIC NEARS RETURN: Warsofsky reiterated Tuesday that Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is nearing a return and is on observe to be accessible to play once more by the tip of the staff’s street journey subsequent week. Vlasic, who missed all of coaching camp and each recreation to date this season with an upper-body damage, has been skating often with the Sharks during the last a number of days.
Vlasic is in his nineteenth NHL season and has performed in 1,296 profession NHL video games, all with the Sharks.
Initially Printed: December 3, 2024 at 6:43 PM PST
