The San Jose Sharks should be proud of their season.<\/p>\n
They should not be proud of how they\u2019ve played in their last three losses, all must-win\u2019s.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday and Thursday, they were smoked by a combined 11-3 by the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, failing to muster more than 20 shots in each game.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, they allowed the worst team in the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks, to outshoot them 41-31, en route to a 4-3 shootout loss. This was just the second time this season that the 23-48-8 Canucks have eclipsed 40 shots in a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight was especially poor in our D-zone,\u201d Warsofsky said.<\/p>\n
The last three defeats, it\u2019s not that the San Jose Sharks lost, it\u2019s how they lost, and in the biggest games of the season.<\/p>\n
They did not, at the heart of it, match the desperation of their opponents.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, they were careless with the puck. They did not start on time. They were not simple when they needed to be. They did not have a shot mentality. They defended atrociously. They did not look confident.<\/p>\n
It was a twist ending to a delightful season, like ending \u201cRatatouille\u201d with Remy caught in a rat trap.<\/p>\n
What happened is for GM Mike Grier and Warsofsky to exhume, and something we\u2019ll discuss plenty in the off-season.<\/p>\n
For now, the San Jose Sharks have basically eliminated themselves from the playoff race. They\u2019re five points back of the last wild card spot in the West, held by the Los Angeles Kings, three games left, no games in hand on LA, three teams to leapfrog.<\/p>\n
Strictly speaking of Los Angeles, and not the other teams ahead of San Jose, the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets, the Sharks will need the Kings to lose out, at least twice in regulation and once in OT\/shootout, or worse, and they\u2019ll need to win out to pass LA.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s obviously improbable, considering that the Kings close their regular season campaign at the Seattle Kraken, Vancouver, and Calgary Flames, all teams out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Sharks, hopefully, will carry the sting from this humiliating string of losses into the off-season and come out the better for it next season. That\u2019s certainly possible, with their uber-talented young core.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur whole group\u2019s motivated,\u201d franchise star Macklin Celebrini said of a sooner-than-hoped off-season.<\/p>\n
Macklin Celebrini<\/p>\n
Full interview here<\/a><\/p>\n Igor Chernyshov<\/p>\n Chernyshov’s thoughts on his 2-goal performance: “I don’t want to think about my game because our team lost. It’s a bad feeling.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Yaroslav Askarov<\/p>\n Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n Warsofsky, on #SJSharks<\/a> penalty kill that’s given up 11 goals in last 18 kills: “I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest with you. It’s getting caved in.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t