SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are understandably excited about the way forwards Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund are playing right now.
Eklund is enjoying the fastest start to a season of his relatively brief NHL career, and Celebrini is starting to establish himself as one of the league’s premier players. Both will be pillars of the Sharks franchise for years to come and are carrying lengthy point streaks into Thursday’s home game against the New Jersey Devils.
The Sharks, in time, would love to see goalie Yaroslav Askarov start to show that same kind of consistency. But he’s not there yet, as Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings painfully demonstrated.
Playing in just his 22nd NHL game, Askarov saw 14 shots and made just 10 saves in what turned into a frustrating 4-3 Sharks loss to the Kings before an announced crowd of 12,804 at SAP Center.
The Sharks outshot the Kings 40-14, including 33-8 over the final two periods. But Askarov was beaten clean above his left shoulder on goals by Jeff Malott and Drew Doughty in the second period and saw the game-winning goal by Brandt Clarke with 6:40 left in the third period zip by his glove from 35 feet away.
Askarov, 23, was making his third straight start after a terrific 26-save performance in a 3-1 Sharks loss to the Devils last Friday. He made 28 more saves, including some key ones late in the third period and overtime, in a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
But progression in the NHL is not linear, and development is not always smooth. The goal for Askarov this season might be to get to a point where everyone knows what to expect from him on a nightly basis.
“That’s what happens with young players in this league,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “There’s the grind of the schedule, coming back home, day off, right back at it tonight. So (Askarov) is learning as we go here, and he will be better for it, and he’ll get better from it.
“This isn’t the first goaltender that’s gone through this type of up and down to start their careers. That’s usually what happens for most players.”
Through six games this season, Askarov is now carrying a 1-4-1 record and a .844 save percentage. Before Tuesday’s game, Askarov, per moneypuck.com, was 30th among the 37 goalies who had played at least five games in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (-0.359).
Those numbers had a lot to do with how Askarov began the season, which included uneven performances against the Anaheim Ducks, a 7-6 Sharks overtime loss on Oct. 11, and a 6-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth six days later.
After Tuesday’s game, Askarov said he’s since started playing with more confidence. Asked what he wanted to improve before his next start, Askarov succinctly replied, “playing better.”
Despite Tuesday’s loss, the Sharks feel they have plenty to build on for the remainder of the homestand.
The Sharks were a disappointing 0-for-5 on the power play. However, Alexander Wennberg’s goal that tied the game 3-3 at the 4:48 mark of the third period came just three seconds after a Malott holding penalty expired. But though the first 2 1/2 periods on Tuesday, the Sharks had allowed just 10 shots against at even strength.
“It all comes down to effort right now,” Wennberg said. “We were skating. When we get the puck, we’re moving it quick. We were pushing them down, and obviously, when they got the puck, you feel like they were chipping it out. … This is kind of the identity we want to (have). A lot of good things today. We’re building on something, and we’re getting closer. Like everyone in this room, we really wanted this win today, so we’re just gonna reset. There’s a new game coming up; keep playing the same way.”
“Every team works hard,” Warsofsky said. “You have to compete, and you have to win pucks. And I thought we did the best we’ve done all year at that in all three zones. You could tell we were getting into our structure. We were communicating. Our guys were engaged; they didn’t roll over.
“Did some really good things, other than the scoreboard at the end of the night.”
Celebrini extended his point streak to five games with a dazzling second-period assist. Taking a short pass from Will Smith behind the Kings’ net, Celebrini skated to the left of Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper and fired a cross-ice pass that got through the legs of Mikey Anderson, past Malott, and right to Smith, who one-timed it for his third goal of the season.
Eklund now has a four-game point streak, with three goals and five assists in that time.
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Eklund, in his third full NHL season, has 10 points, making this his fastest start in a Sharks uniform.
“He’s playing some of the best hockey I’ve seen him play,” Warsofsky said of Eklund. “He’s on a mission. He’s stacking his games together, and that’s what we’ve talked about, and that’s when you talk about developing players, is when you start stacking games together. We’re seeing (Eklund) really come in right now to who he’s going to be, and he’s just going to get better and better.”
Now it’s a matter of putting it all together. The Sharks feel they’re close, but their goaltending has to get up to speed.
“(Askarov’s) done a good job with (goalie coach Thomas Speer), working on the things that we’ve asked him to work on, and he’s been receptive to that,” Warsofsky said. “Had a good session there back in New York, and got better from it. And we’ll have another good session (Wednesday), and he’ll get better from it. That’s how development works.”
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