The San Jose Sharks won, but they didn’t play winning hockey.

They got away with it on Saturday, pulling out a 5-4 OT victory over the Los Angeles Kings. But head coach Ryan Warsofsky knows it.

“We can put the puck in the net. But we’re trying to win a lot of hockey games and go do something in the spring, and you have to play a certain way, or you won’t,” Warsofsky said. “We can’t just rely on skill.”

That’s what the Sharks did, however, on Saturday. Halfway into the game, a Nolan Allan point shot somehow eluded Anton Forsberg, giving San Jose a 3-1 lead. Shots were even then, at 14 apiece.

The Sharks then fell asleep at the wheel, ceding 12 of the next 13 shots, before Igor Chernyshov’s breakaway, four minutes into the final frame, made it 4-2.

That should’ve calmed the waters for the San Jose Sharks, but it didn’t.

“We needed to simplify our game,” Warsofsky said. “There’s going to be nights where you don’t really have your hands, maybe you don’t have your legs, but you got to have your brain.”

Two examples stood out, one the right way, one the wrong way to play for the Sharks.

Cue the tape from 00:34 on…

In Chernyshov-Michael Misa-Tyler Toffoli’s next shift after the Chernyshov breakaway strike, Misa (77) comes up with the puck after a big Tyler Toffoli (73) block.

Misa’s line is changing, so the center’s job is clear, especially with a slim third period lead: Get it in deep, and either change or get in on the forecheck. The 19-year-old does neither, losing the puck to Drew Doughty (8) and Joel Edmundson (6).

On watching the replay, it’s hard to believe that Misa would choose to go 1-on-2 in the neutral zone in this situation, but regardless, he’s got to execute the dump. He doesn’t, and Los Angeles counterattacks, which they kept doing even after the 4-2 goal. They’d tie the game after this, outshooting San Jose 10-5 to close regulation.

Warsofsky defended his teenage center post-game, fair play in public, “There’s always some puck decisions that we got to get cleaned up, but he was skating. I liked some of the things he does and did tonight, and we can get wrapped up in some of the neutral zone puck play and some of the turnovers that we need to obviously clean up. But I liked his legs.”

But fact of the matter, that’s not winning hockey. The neutral zone matters so much. While the San Jose Sharks came away with back-to-back OT victories to start the season, no doubt, beating the Florida Panthers on Thursday felt more earned than this victory.

Per Stathletes, the Sharks took the 5-on-5 neutral zone turnover battle against the Panthers, with 10 NZ Giveaways to Florida’s 17. San Jose had 21 NZ Giveaways to Los Angeles’s 13 on Saturday.

Misa accounted for four of those giveaways, team-worst, against the Kings.

For what it’s worth, Warsofsky wasn’t talking out of the side of his mouth, when praising Misa’s skating. Misa led the Sharks with 16 5-on-5 Loose Puck Recoveries (non-shot), ahead of superstar Macklin Celebrini’s 12. So no doubt, Misa, who’s noticeably faster this season, was on his horse getting to the puck on Saturday.

He also had the primary assist on Allan’s goal.

Misa just has to refine his decision-making, perfectly normal for a 19-year-old center.

Warsofsky simply chose to emphasize the positive, which is, again, fair play in public, especially when handling a teenage athlete.

But privately, I’m sure that Warsofsky would’ve rather had seen this type of puck play with a two-goal lead.

Run the tape from 00:35…

Kiefer Sherwood (44) jumps on the loose puck after Yaroslav Askarov denies a Corey Perry (90) bid, getting it to Zack Ostapchuk (63) at center ice. The young centerman isn’t making any moves here, he just gets it in deep and changes.

Sherwood and Barclay Goodrow (23) get in on the forecheck. And while the duo doesn’t create any offense, their 15 seconds of persistent forecheck pushes the Kings back, allowing the Sharks to change and set up their neutral zone defense. Mikey Anderson (44) tries to pump a pass up to Alex Laferriere (14), but Jacob Trouba (65) is on top of the winger, and this time, it’s San Jose that’s forced an NZ turnover.

This is winning hockey, that the young Sharks didn’t do enough of with the lead on Saturday. These points matter now, especially gifting a point to your close conference rival and competition for a playoff berth.

“It can be cleaned up. We understand,” Warsofsky said. “There’s certain situations, the game within the game.”