The San Jose Sharks are still learning to win…but they’re winning while they’re doing it.

That’s a new feeling for the Sharks, after a 5-2 victory over Eastern Conference power New Jersey Devils.

On the positive side, San Jose is playing the most consistently competitive hockey that they’ve played in years, perhaps since the first David Quinn season, pre-Timo Meier trade, or the last Bob Boughner campaign.

They’ve played, including the 3-0 Pittsburgh Penguins’ loss, seven straight games that they could’ve won. I’m not sure the last time that you could say that in recent franchise history.

Save for the 3-1 defeat at New Jersey last week, they’ve been clearly or arguably the better team in the six other contests.

This might be the best two-week stretch of Sharks hockey since 2022-23.

Five positives stand out in this recent stretch of play:

Macklin Celebrini, even when he isn’t dominating games offensively, is making an impact on the other side of the puck, such as his third period backcheck to negate a possible Nico Hischier-led 2-on-1. And he still had a gorgeous assist to Will Smith. I think he’s been playing at a superstar level. Can the 19-year-old keep it up?
I would guess the second line’s recent offensive explosion is not sustainable. William Eklund has three goals and two assists, Alex Wennberg has two goals and two assists, and Philipp Kurashev has two goals in three assists in their last three games. Wennberg and Kurashev are more known quantities, so I don’t think they keep it up. Maybe the younger Kurashev? However, it’s exciting to see that Eklund, just 23, appears to have taken a step in his development into a bona fide top-six winger.
They aren’t perfect, but the Sharks’ off-season veteran defensive additions, Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg, have added a lot of puck poise to San Jose’s blueline, which was GM Mike Grier’s intention. Breakouts, generally, have been far more effective, from blueline to blueline, adding offense and improving defense. Orlov has also represented the most physical and best all-around Sharks blueliner in a long time.
On a nightly basis, San Jose’s top power play unit of Celebrini, Eklund, Will Smith, Tyler Toffoli, and either Klingberg or Orlov have been a threat. While they didn’t score tonight in two chances, they’ve usually been momentum-builders.
The Sharks’ fourth line, usually Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves with a rotating cast of centers, has been Ryan Warsofsky’s go-to group when he wants San Jose to play a more basic game. They don’t score a lot, but they also don’t give up a lot, and led by Goodrow’s renewed skating, have set a genuine tone for the team with their physicality, persistent forechecking, and defensive smarts.

So that’s what I’ve liked about the Sharks in the last seven games. What I didn’t like tonight? San Jose, up 3-1 going into the middle frame, tried their best to let New Jersey back into the game.

For the first 14:06 of the middle frame, the Devils outshot the Sharks 12-4. The biggest culprit, according to Warsofsky?

“Came down to our puck play. Certain neutral zone puck play was not good against their top-six, they’ll make you pay,” he said, “and Ned made some huge saves in that 15 minutes.”

That’s how I saw it, in my San Jose Sharks’ game notes. Just in that stretch, I saw Reaves struggle to get it out of the DZ, Klingberg turn it over behind Alex Nedeljkovic, Jeff Skinner fail to get it deep, Wennberg cough up the puck on a hope NZ pass, and Tyler Toffoli ice it on a long bomb pass to Smith, when he appeared to have Celebrini close to him for the easy exit.

Your’e not always going to be perfect, but in the aggregate, that’s losing hockey. In that respect, the Sharks were fortunate to get to that point of the game with a two-goal lead, before Smith and Toffoli gave San Jose a commanding 5-1 lead to end the period.

One day, they’ll get better at that, reading the room, playing basic hockey when it’s time for that, pushing the action when it’s time for that. But for now, let’s enjoy some of the best San Jose Sharks hockey, I know, faint praise, that we’ve seen in a long time.

Ryan Warsofsky

I asked Warsofsky if he had good news for Dickinson to share with us, said, “No, not yet”

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 31, 2025

Warsofsky, on how the San Jose Sharks played a more mature third period than in recent games:

They score the power play goal there. And there was not much panic.

We just kept playing and started getting our legs back into the game with us. When you’ve coughed up some leads, that’s what happens, you get put on your heels a little bit. I’m glad that we matured in a sense of how to play in that situation.

Warsofsky, on how the Sharks took back the game in the second period, after the Devils controlled most of the period:

Came down to our puck play. Certain neutral zone puck play was not good against their top-six, they’ll make you pay, and Ned made some huge saves in that 15 minutes, and we capitalize on the other end of it.

Reaves has a lower-body injury, re-evaluated tomorrow

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 31, 2025

Warsofsky, on Wennberg line:

Yeah, that line’s been really good. Wennberg, Kursh, and Eky, we’re kind of using them against top lines with Hughes and Hischier, kind of bounce them around a little bit. Wenny’s been good at shutting down some really good centers here in these first 11 games.

Alex Nedeljkovic

Nedeljkovic, on what’s changed recently for the Sharks:

You can see it these last couple of games, we’ve come out pretty strong. Come on, really fast. We got the first goal, obviously not the Kings game, but we clawed our way back from a three-goal deficit there. Dominated that game against LA.

We’re in games. There haven’t been a lot of games this year where you look at, maybe like one or two, where it’s we didn’t really have it that night, and we didn’t really have a shot…

The firepower we have up front and the way that the guys are playing and the confidence that they have, the swagger that they have, it’ll go a long way for us, so we just got to keep playing with that. And honestly, just keep having fun.

William Eklund

Eklund joked, when I asked how #SJSharks regained momentum after the Devils controlled most of the 2nd period, “Score two goals.”

William has seen A LOT of losing in the two previous seasons, it’s nice to see him with a big smile after a win. Not been the norm post-game

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 31, 2025

Eklund, on how the mood of the locker room has swung since the win versus the New York Rangers:

It’s been good. We’ve been keeping our morale up ever since the start. I feel like it’s been better and better. We started to get to know each other more, how we play. You gotta think, it’s a completely new team, pretty much. We’re learning how guys are going to play out there. We’re stringing some games together here, and we’re getting better and better every game. That’s the biggest part.

Eklund, on what Philipp Kurashev has added to this line:

Speed. He’s just a speedy guy. He creates so much space for himself and for us. I think that’s a big thing. I feel like that contributes a lot to our line

Dmitry Orlov

Orlov, on what worked for the San Jose Sharks tonight:

We managed the puck, most of the game, pretty good. We created a lot of chances…

Last game before today, played pretty good. We lost it, but I think we brought today the same game, and same attitude.

We keep playing like that, we’re gonna have more wins, more confidence in ourselves, and it’s gonna help us in the future, in a long season