San Jose Sharks’ Yaroslav Askarov struggles in loss to Chicago Blackhawks

The San Jose Sharks made some impressive strides this season, as they’ll finish with at least 32 more points than they had last year and remained alive for a playoff spot until the final few days of the regular season.

But the Sharks also have a handful of areas in which they’ll need to improve if they want to make the NHL playoffs in 2027.

Puck management, team defense, and situational awareness, to start.

But regardless of what moves the Sharks make in the offseason to try to address their shortcomings, they’re probably not going anywhere unless they get some growth from some of their least experienced players, including getting more consistent goaltending from Yaroslav Askarov.

In his first full NHL season, Askarov, with his reflexes and athleticism, at times showed off what made him such a tantalizing prospect since he was drafted 11th overall in 2020. But there were also times when he just didn’t make enough of the saves an NHL goaltender is expected to make, especially since the Sharks believe Askarov can be an unquestioned No. 1.

Such was the case on Wednesday in what was likely Askarov’s last appearance of the season.

The Sharks had a two-goal lead over the Chicago Blackhawks late in the second period when Askarov allowed a soft goal to defenseman Sam Rinzel with 30 seconds before intermission. From a sharp angle, Rinzel fired a puck on net that got between Askarov and the post and slid across the goal line.

With the Sharks trailing by a goal midway through the third period on Wednesday, Askarov allowed a shot from defenseman Louis Crevier from 63 feet away to get under his glove hand and over his right pad.

That’s all the life the Blackhawks needed, as thanks to some Sharks miscues, they scored four goals on 11 shots in the third to pull out a 5-2 win.

Askarov had 19 saves against the Blackhawks and finished the regular season with a record of 21-20-4 in 47 games. He won just two of his last nine starts, with an .871 save percentage in that time.

“When you hand a team momentum with puck play, with soft goals, with loose coverage, anyone can win,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of losing to the NHL’s 31st-place team, three days after losing to the 32nd-place team, the Vancouver Canucks.

The Sharks (38-35-8) end the season against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, when goalie Alex Nedeljkovic is expected to get the start.

The advanced metrics also tell an unpleasant story for Askarov. In his last 20 games, Askarov’s goals saved above expected per 60 mark of -0.710, per moneypuck.com, is third-worst among the 65 NHL goalies who have played at least 20 games this season.

The good news for the Sharks and Askarov is that he’s still only 23, and usually, goalies at that age do not hit their stride for another year or two. Every one of the top 20 goalies in that goals-saved above-expected per-60 stat is at least 24 years old.

So there is plenty of time for Askarov to improve his game and give his team a chance to win in most of his starts. This will be a big summer for him, as it will be for a lot of Sharks players.

The skaters in front of Askarov on Wednesday.could have been better, too.

With the Sharks leading 2-1, on a Blackhawks 2-on-2, center Connor Bedard found Louis Crevier open for a tap-in goal 3:51 into the third as rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson lost coverage on the back end.

At the 8:35 mark, Dickinson’s giveaway inside the Sharks led to a Ryan Greene goal and a 3-2 Blackhawks lead.

Macklin Celebrini was a minus-3 and was listed as having four giveaways, marking just the third time he’s been a minus-3 or worse in 81 games this season.

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way,” Warsofsky said of his group and what they can learn from the loss to Chicago. “(Wednesday’s loss) was a kick in the gut because we should know by now, to be honest with you.”

“We’ve talked enough about momentum shifts in games, and when to simplify, and when to be a mature team and understand that we’ve controlled the game the first two periods, let’s go put zeroes in the third, and we win a hockey game. Until we do that, we won’t make another step.”

The Sharks held the Blackhawks to no shots on goal in the first 16 minutes of the opening period. Then they stopped managing the game and took unnecessary risks, especially in the third period.

“Just wanted to get cute and try to make it easy, and this game is not easy. It’s hard,” Warsofsky said. “You’ve got to do it shift in and shift out, and we got away from it in the third period, obviously.”

The Sharks had seven shots on net in the first period and 10 more the rest of the game, including four in the final 20 minutes.

“Very good defensively to start, obviously, held them to no shots for a while there,” Sharks winger Collin Graf said. “For us, we just sort of did the opposite, and we’ve just got to shoot the puck more.”

The Sharks are in 24th place in the NHL’s overall standings with 84 points. With a victory on Thursday, they could move up to 23rd and have a 3.5% chance to win the first drawing at next month’s NHL draft lottery. With a regulation time loss, they will fall to 26th and have a 6.5% chance.

As of now, the Sharks have a 5.0% chance of winning the first lottery and selecting first overall. They also have a 10.4% chance of picking in the top three.