Plenty of young San Jose Sharks players in recent years have had plenty of moments they wanted back during their rookie NHL seasons.

None of them, not even Macklin Celebrini, has experienced such moments with the Sharks in the thick of a playoff race, where each game has meaning, and every miscue is magnified.

As the Sharks get ready for Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins, rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson had a moment to forget – or more likely learn from – in San Jose’s 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

With the Sharks trailing by one early in the second period Tuesday and pressing for the equalizer, Dickinson, 19, was being pressured by Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn as he tried to play a puck that had been sent into the neutral zone.

Dickinson never gained control of the puck as he started to back up, and instead of playing the body, tried to stick-check Malenstyn. But a hard-charging Malenstyn was able to pass the puck ahead to himself through Dickinson’s legs before he beat Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov low to the glove side for a 3-1 Sabres lead at the 4:59 mark of the second period.

It was far from the Sharks’ only miscue in what became their third straight loss, but it served as a reminder that some of their younger players are learning on the fly in a pressure-filled environment, as they became the latest team to lose to the Atlantic Division-leading Sabres.

HE’S DONE IT AGAIN FOLKS pic.twitter.com/5HGFxjXAar

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 11, 2026

The Sharks (30-26-6) have also now lost five straight games away from home.

“I think sometimes we think we’re working hard, but that’s a whole other level,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the Sabres. “That team works. They skate, they skate to close, they skate in all three zones, they skate with the puck to get on the attack. It’s a good hockey team.”

In San Jose’s 3-2 overtime loss at home to St. Louis last Friday, Dickinson was listed as having seven of the Sharks’ 23 giveaways, and was trying to check Robert Thomas before the Blues forward redirected a loose puck with his skate into the San Jose net for the winning goal.

Warsofsky had the option of scratching Dickinson, the 11th overall pick in the 2024 draft, and dressing call-up Nolan Allan for the following night’s game against the New York Islanders. Instead, Dickinson was back in the lineup and played over 17 minutes in what became a Sharks’ 2-1 loss, although Dickinson was on the ice for Bo Horvat’s winning goal in overtime.

“He’s a young kid. He’s going through his first NHL season,” Warsofsky said of Dickinson after the loss to the Blues. “I know you guys expect these players to be perfect every night and not make mistakes, but unfortunately, they do. That was a night for Sam that he learned that the National Hockey League is an everyday league, and if you don’t bring it, you’re going to get put on your heels quickly.”

In that game against the Blues, Dickinson led a Sharks rush in the third period that resulted in a game-tying goal by Kiefer Sherwood.

“Give him a lot of credit,” Warsofsky said of Dickinson, “he pushed through and made a good play in the third that helped create that tying goal. He did some good things, and some things that he’s going to learn from as a first-year NHL defenseman.”

Dickinson has 10 points and has averaged just over 16 minutes in ice time in 52 games this season. That ice time has ticked up a notch as he played in 26 of the Sharks’ last 27 games, while he simultaneously goes through a crucial stage of his development while his team tries to nail down a playoff spot.

“That’s kind of exactly where you want to be,” Dickinson, a Memorial Cup champion, said late last month of being in a playoff race. “It’s a lot better to be in a position like this rather than at the bottom of the league and just going through the motions.

“I think it brings out the best in everybody. I think I’m the same. I think when games start to matter the most is when I play the best. I don’t think that’ll change this last part here, knowing that we have to fight for some big points.”

Center Michael Misa, also 19, and also a Memorial Cup champion, is playing a significant role for the Sharks right now as a middle-six center on the second power play unit. He’s played in each of the Sharks’ last 18 games, and in that time, is tied for fourth on the team in scoring with 10 points.

He’ll need to keep it up as the Sharks, with 66 points, have now been caught by the Nashville Predators, as both teams enter Thursday one point back of the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Kings are tied with Seattle but have played one more game.

“It shifts the games to kind of more playoff-style games and every point matters for every team,” Misa said last week. “You can really see after the (Olympic) break, the hockey’s ramped up even more. We’re going to have to find ways to bear down.”