SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks made progress throughout the 2024 calendar 12 months. They’ve been extra aggressive this season, have continued to bolster their prospect pool, and now have what seems to be a future franchise centerman in Macklin Celebrini.
However that doesn’t change the truth that the Sharks will head into 2025 on an eight-game shedding streak, one which threatens to get even longer, contemplating who they’ve on deck over the following week.
On Tuesday, the Sharks have been unable to complete a handful of scoring probabilities and allowed two power-play targets in a 4-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers earlier than an introduced New 12 months’s Eve crowd of 14,816 at SAP Heart.
Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 17 of the primary 20 photographs he confronted however allowed an even-strength objective to Nick Seeler within the first interval and power-play targets to Ryan Poehling and Travis Konecny within the second.
San Jose Sharks goaltender Alexander Georgiev (40) can’t cease a objective by Philadelphia Flyers’ Travis Konecny (11) within the second interval on the SAP Heart in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
Egor Zamula then dashed any hopes of a Sharks rally on the 2:30 mark of the third, as his shot from behind the web went off defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and previous Georgiev for his third objective of the season and a Flyers 4-0 lead.
The Sharks (11-23-6) have now misplaced 11 of their final 12 video games and are 0-7-1 since a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 12.
The issue for San Jose is that Tuesday’s sport in opposition to the Flyers (16-17-4) might need been its most winnable for the remainder of the homestand.
The Sharks face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, the New Jersey Devils on Saturday and the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. All three groups are in a playoff place, and the Sharks have already been blown out by Tampa Bay and Vegas this season.
Three takeaways from Tuesday’s sport:
OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES: The Sharks’ longest shedding streak this season is 9 video games. That report is in actual jeopardy, contemplating how lackluster the offense seems to be.
The Sharks have managed only one objective over their final seven intervals. That was an influence play marker from Celebrini within the second interval of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
It’s exhausting to think about that Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky will probably be splitting up Celebrini and Will Smith anytime quickly. The 2 rookies accounted for 2 of the Sharks’ higher scoring probabilities within the opening interval.
First, Celebrini and Smith got here 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 submit on the 17:34 mark. Later, Smith, carrying the puck into the impartial zone, fired an 80-foot diagonal tape-to-tape move to Celebrini, whose shot bought previous Ersson however didn’t have sufficient steam to cross the objective line.
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) can’t get a shot previous Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Aleksei Kolosov (35) within the third interval on the SAP Heart in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
Tyler Toffoli additionally hit the submit with a shot within the first interval, and Luke Kunin was denied on a shorthanded breakaway likelihood.
Nonetheless, Smith and Celebrini have been the Sharks’ most dynamic gamers just lately, and until they’re creating probabilities, it’s been exhausting for San Jose to generate a lot offense.
Going into Thursday, main scorer Mikael Granlund and middle-six middle Alexander Wennberg each have simply two assists in his final seven video games, and Nikolai Kovalenko has no factors in 5 video games.
Not less than on the offensive finish, it’s straightforward to see that the Sharks miss their top-scoring winger in William Eklund, and top-scoring defenseman in Jake Walman. These two, each injured, have a mixed 52 factors in 67 video games this season. The Sharks energy play is now 2-for-13 over the past six video games.
GOALIE QUESTION: Goalie Yaroslav Askarov has performed properly in three begins since his most up-to-date recall from the Barracuda on Dec. 18; he’s 0-2-1 and has stopped 89 of 98 photographs for a stable .908 save share.
With the Sharks set to play a gentle variety of video games subsequent month, Warsofsky stated he wished to offer Georgiev an opportunity to play Tuesday to maintain each of them recent. Nonetheless, one wonders if Warsofsky now may give Askarov some begins in a row now, simply to assist in giving his crew the very best likelihood to win.
Initially Printed: December 31, 2024 at 7:35 PM PST
