The San Jose Sharks are back in a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s their first time since Mar. 14, after a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, their fourth-straight win.<\/p>\n
The Sharks are now tied with the Nashville Predators with 79 points, but San Jose has a game in hand.<\/p>\n
There are two ways that I look at this triumph.<\/p>\n
Credit, of course, to the San Jose Sharks for how they manhandled a sleepy Maple Leafs squad, clearly playing out the string. Toronto looked like a team that had just fired their GM and were playing for a potential lame duck coach. At times, in a clear role reversal from recent history, Team Teal was varsity and the Blue and White was JV.<\/p>\n
This also, however, felt like a learning lesson for the Sharks.<\/p>\n
This was a game, honestly, that should\u2019ve never been in question late, and was, until Adam Gaudette potted an empty netter. The Leafs looked that zonked out. This was a game that a superior opponent, after San Jose took a 2-0 first period lead, could\u2019ve come back from.<\/p>\n
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky certainly saw room for improvement, the type that you hope to see from the Sharks as they become a championship-caliber side.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust managing the pucks through the neutral zone would be one [improvement],\u201d Warsofsky said.<\/p>\n
An immature team does not value the puck as much as it should. Also?<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving an awareness of we played back-to-back, we want to get four lines rolling. We want to have short shifts and roll them over,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cThere\u2019s moments, when we get stuck out there, and longer shifts is where we get in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
The power play also wasn\u2019t the hammer that it could be.<\/p>\n
The Sharks, frankly, may not be deep and experienced enough to put their foot, consistently, on an opponent\u2019s throat yet.<\/p>\n
But it would behoove them to learn quick, with the Predators coming to SAP Center this Saturday.<\/p>\n
Two-time Stanley Cup winner Barclay Goodrow saw it another way, focusing on the positive, which makes sense too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won the game 4-1. A win\u2019s a win, it\u2019s two points,\u201d Goodrow said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard enough to get a win in this league, especially this time of year. We\u2019re not getting picky.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point last year, the Sharks had 50 points and were 39 points out of the second wild card spot. San Jose is a staggering 29 points ahead of last year\u2019s pace, but of course, they\u2019re still far away from a championship standard. Maybe that\u2019s when how you win really counts.<\/p>\n
The San Jose Sharks are getting there. And they\u2019re one significant step on the way, according to their leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group in there believes in it. We can write about it and we can talk about it all we want. But when someone believes in something and they believe in each other, that\u2019s when you make moves, that\u2019s when you make strides, and that\u2019s where you see a lot of success come from,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cThat group is extremely coachable. They\u2019re great, great human beings. They\u2019re great guys, a high character, and they care about one another. That\u2019s what\u2019s so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on Ostapchuk tonight: “He just gets better and better. He’s a big man that can skate. The play he makes at the end of the game, probably not a lot of people notice, but he goes through that guy on the wall, wins the puck on the wall. Ices the game. Did a really good\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n William Eklund<\/p>\n Eklund, on his late third period shot block: “That’s the sort of thing we got to do here. I think everybody knows when it’s time to lay the body on the line, you gotta do it. It was my time.”<\/p>\n