ELMONT, N.Y. — Tyler Toffoli wrestles with reality even as he confidently talks about how the San Jose Sharks’ internal expectations have changed from last season, when they were last in the League in wins and points.
“It feels like we’re ready to start winning, if that makes sense,” Toffoli said after practice at UBS Arena on Monday. “Obviously, it’s hard to say when we haven’t, but it feels like we’re ready to start winning and the expectation is to win.”
It’s five games into the season and the Sharks still haven’t met their own expectations. They are the only winless team in the League, bringing an 0-3-2 record into their game Tuesday against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena (7 p.m. ET; MSGSN, NBCSCA).
“It’s five games in, so no need to hit the panic button,” forward Macklin Celebrini said. “We know we can play better. We know what we have in here. We see it in video, and we see it in the game in real time. We know what we need to do.”
The Sharks have been doing what they need to do to stay in most games.
They had the lead going into the final two minutes of regulation in their season-opener against the Vegas Golden Knights.
They led 2-0, 3-2, 5-3 and 6-4 against the Anaheim Ducks.
They were down just one goal after two periods against the Utah Mammoth and Pittsburgh Penguins, still very much in each game.
“We’ve done some really good things, and we’ve had some really good spurts of how we need to play,” Toffoli said. “Obviously, it’s when we get off track that’s when the mistakes happen and it seems like every time we make one mistake it starts piling on.”
They collapsed against Vegas, had bounces go against them, and lost 4-3 in overtime.
They gave up each lead against the Ducks and then allowed two goals in the last 10 minutes of regulation, including the tying goal at with 51 seconds left, before giving up the winner 46 seconds into overtime.
Against Utah, the Sharks allowed two goals in the first 3:25 of the third and lost 6-3.
They never scored against the Penguins and lost 3-0.
They also lost 5-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“You could say the first game was great, unfortunate bounces and didn’t come out with the win,” defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “Second game, we really gave ourselves a chance and a couple hiccups — you could say we should have won that game. And last game (against Pittsburgh), I thought we played well. But, again, we could talk and talk and talk, at the end of the day we’re still winless. There are no moral victories. As much as we’re making strides and we’re playing better, those are good things to be positive about and to take into the next game, we still need to give it that extra to get the win. We’re missing that piece.”
Ferraro said the Sharks have “immaturity in our game,” which is to be expected since they are the seventh youngest team in the League by current average roster age (27.8) and expect to have eight players 23 or younger in the lineup Tuesday, including three teenagers.
Even with that, the Sharks have been getting to the third period with a chance to win.
Then it goes awry.
They’ve been outscored 10-3 in the third period and 2-0 in overtime.
Why?
“Our compete level has been average at best I would say,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
He later elaborated.
“We’re working hard, but there’s another level we need to get to as far as being a team,” Warsofsky said. “You see these top teams in the League, they work extremely hard shift in and shift out. No matter if there is a breakdown they keep going, they keep hunting. That’s what we’re learning right now.”
He pointed to the third period against the Penguins on Saturday, when the Sharks allowed an in-zone 2-on-1 against, and Anthony Mantha made it 2-0 at 7:02. Evgeni Malkin‘s empty-net goal provided the 3-0 final.
“There was a little moment there, that second goal, we just come off of it a little bit and it’s in the back of the net,” Warsofsky said.
But it’s not surprising with the Sharks still rebuilding.
Their projected lineup Tuesday features teenagers Celebrini, 19, Michael Misa, 18, and Sam Dickinson, 19, Will Smith, 20, Vincent Iorio, 22, and 23-year-olds Yaroslav Askarov, William Eklund and Colin Graf. They also have 20-year-old Luca Cagnoni on the roster.
“At practice today, looking around, we have some highly skilled individuals coming,” Warsofsky said. “It’s going to take them some time, but they’re going to be really good. From Macklin to Will to Misa to Dickinson to Cagnoni, we’ve got some guys coming.”
They’re all here now, though, and the bare minimum expectation is to be better than last season, when they finished 20-50-12.
“We can look at all the positives we can find,” Toffoli said, “but if you’re not winning games it doesn’t really matter.”
They can change that Tuesday.
“The result is going to come when we’ve earned it,” Ferraro said. “I truly believe that. We haven’t earned it yet.”