This season has been a coming out party for Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund.<\/p>\n
Could Philipp Kurashev be joining the fold?<\/p>\n
Kurashev scored two goals, including the OT winner, in the San Jose Sharks\u2019 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
After one goal in his first six games, and then a healthy scratch, the 26-year-old center-winger has four goals and seven points in his last four games.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about the points though: He\u2019s playing with clear confidence, and he\u2019s been part of a sneakily-successful shutdown line with Alex Wennberg and William Eklund.<\/p>\n
Kurashev indicated that this might be the best hockey of his career that he\u2019s playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re all going as a line really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is meaningful for the San Jose Sharks because they signed the RFA-turned-UFA, who the Chicago Blackhawks declined to qualify, for just $1.25 million on a one-year prove-it contract.<\/p>\n
Kurashev struggled last year with the Hawks, putting up just seven goals and 14 points in 51 games in an injury-plagued year. But this followed a 2023-24 campaign where he scored a career-high 18 goals and 54 points.<\/p>\n
So if that\u2019s the Philipp Kurashev that the San Jose Sharks have acquired, he\u2019s providing valuable two-way wing depth for a team that out of nowhere, has won four of their last six after a 0-4-2 start.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur scouts did a really good job of targeting him, of a guy that we think there\u2019s more there than what he\u2019s probably shown in Chicago towards the end, and he\u2019s starting to get confident, and obviously gets on the score sheet,\u201d Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cBut when he\u2019s competing and he\u2019s skating for pucks, he\u2019s a very effective player, and he\u2019s really solidified our top-six.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see if he can keep it up.<\/p>\n
Macklin Celebrini<\/p>\n
Celebrini on Kurashev\u2019s play in the last few games\u2026
I think that whole line, they\u2019re playing so well. They\u2019ve been huge for us, matched up against other teams\u2019 top lines and creating as much offense as they have, I think it\u2019s huge for our group. And obviously him, the goals and how he\u2019s been able to put the puck in the night. It\u2019s been great for us.<\/p>\n
Celebrini on how the San Jose Sharks turned things around after the start\u2026
I think we were just asleep at the start. I know I wasn\u2019t playing my best by any means, and I thought we just did a good job weathering it and getting on our front foot a little bit.<\/p>\n
Celebrini on Askarov\u2019s performance\u2026
He was unbelievable. If he keeps playing like that, we\u2019re going to win a lot of games.<\/p>\n
Celebrini on the refs at the end of the game\u2026
We don\u2019t want to be known for the team that complains and gets on the refs. They\u2019re doing their best as much as us. And I was just talking to them, seeing what they were seeing. And maybe there are a couple plays that maybe there could have been a penalty called on, but I was just seeing what they\u2019re seeing. They don\u2019t always get the best view of stuff.<\/p>\n
Yaroslav Askarov<\/p>\n
Askarov on what felt better Saturday, compared to against the Kings\u2026
Felt more calm, more not off the angle, was moving at the same time if the puck was (moving), being square.<\/p>\n
Askarov on his misplay of the puck\u2026
I told my equipment guys already. (laughs) Well no, I mean, I\u2019m joking. It\u2019s totally on me, but just better ice.<\/p>\n
Askarov on seeing Mackenzie Blackwood\u2026
That\u2019s great, seeing Blacky. I said a couple words to him, like in the warm-up before the game. So it\u2019s always nice to see him. Always nice to play against him. He\u2019s such a nice guy. I mean, I love him.<\/p>\n
Philipp Kurashev<\/p>\n
Kurashev on if this is the best hockey he\u2019s played\u2026
Yeah, I think so, for sure. I think we\u2019re all going as a line really well, and it\u2019s been a lot of fun the last couple of games. So I think we will try to build on this.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on what\u2019s led to his current success\u2026
Just work hard and try to be good in battles and try to support my linemates. I think we\u2019ve been doing a good job of that, and it\u2019s been paying off.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on his overtime winner and having three forwards out\u2026
Looked up and tried to hit the spot, and I did, and I\u2019m happy about that, and happy to help us get the win today.<\/p>\n
The coach called that, and we went out there and we did that. That was the call, and I\u2019m happy it worked out.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on playing Nathan McKinnon and what went well\u2026
It\u2019s really hard to play against a guy like him, one of the best players in the league, and so it was a good challenge for us. I think we did good, and just happy to get the win.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on clicking with William Eklund and Alex Wennberg\u2026
It\u2019s been so much fun. We just read off each other really well and support each other. And those guys make a lot of great plays and just happy to do something sometimes too.<\/p>\n
We just read off each other well. Wenny and Ekky, they\u2019re great players, and Wenny is so good defensively and so reliable.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on seeing Askarov bounce back\u2026
He was great all night today, and especially in the key moments when we needed him. Happy for him. And it gives us a lot of confidence too, and I got a lot of good emotions from that.<\/p>\n
Kurashev on his goal in the second period\u2026
Great play by Delly (Ty Dellandrea), made a nice saucer pass, and I was pretty open after that. Just try to took what I saw, and I\u2019m happy it went in.<\/p>\n
Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on the Sharks recent performances and maturity\u2026
We\u2019re getting better. We\u2019re learning lessons as we go like I kind of harped on here a little bit lately, so done some really good things. I liked our third period a lot.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on the aggression in the third period\u2026
We just talked about, we want to be in the attack. One of the best teams in the league, two-two in the third, what else could we ask for? So I liked how our guys gravitated towards that and went out and grabbed it.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on the top two lines\u2026
Top-six was really good. Obviously, Mack got going there quite a bit in the third, had some good looks on the power play, 5-on-5, and then Kurashev has been really good. That line has been really good for us.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on Askarov\u2019s game\u2026
He just looked a little bit more confident in his game. Even the glove save there, I think it was on Burns with 12 seconds left, he makes a hell of a save, and he\u2019s calm about it. So I think that was a big positive that we saw tonight.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on the start\u2026
A lucky bounce there, they put us on our heels. Probably another lesson we\u2019ve got to learn of playing at one o\u2019clock. There\u2019s a little bit of a different everything. Your routine\u2019s a little off for a young group, but we\u2019ll learn from it. And Asky was there for us, which was huge.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on why the Wennberg-Eklund-Kurashev line has been so effective defensively\u2026
When you go to shut down a top-line like that, everyone says you got to shut them down in the defensive zone, you\u2019ve got to play without the puck. I want them to play in the offensive zone. And I think that\u2019s the best way to shut down the top-line is to play in the offensive zone. Hold on to pucks, make them come 200 feet, make their top players play defense. Top players really don\u2019t want to play defense, and we\u2019ve got to make them play defense. And I thought that line did a really good job of that.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on the Avalanche goal decision after Jeff Skinner knocked the net off\u2026
It\u2019s just initially, when he calls it, no goal, that was a call on the ice, and then they actually changed the call on the ice. So that\u2019s where I was a little frustrated by it. It\u2019s a goal, like we pushed the net off. It\u2019s a goal that\u2019s very preventable from our structure. That\u2019s what\u2019s more frustrating. So we\u2019ll get better at it. We\u2019ll look at it tomorrow, and continue to work on our neutral zone.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on sending three forwards out in overtime\u2026
That\u2019s been our rotation. We\u2019ve talked about it here after going into some overtimes, we\u2019re comfortable with Wenny playing on that backside and being a defensive forward, he can handle that responsibility. Want to get Kurashev in there too. He\u2019s been skating and playing some good hockey. So that\u2019s really what it came down to.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky on his expectations of Kurashev\u2026
Our scouts did a really good job of targeting him, of a guy that we think there\u2019s more there than what he\u2019s probably shown in Chicago towards the end, and he\u2019s starting to get confident, and obviously gets on the score sheet. But when he\u2019s competing and he\u2019s skating for pucks, he\u2019s a very effective player, and he\u2019s really solidified our top-six. So that\u2019s just been real nice to see.<\/p>\n
On Askarov\u2019s risky moment on the puck\u2026
Stuff is going to happen. We want our goalies to come out and play pucks and, okay, he took a heel pick. Stuff is going to happen. And we\u2019ve just got to keep playing and keep competing. Our guys did a good job of that and Asky responded. He made, obviously, a big save on it. But yeah, you hold your breath for a quick second.<\/p>\n
Apologies, I didn\u2019t record full Warsofsky video, find it on the Sharks website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This season has been a coming out party for Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund. Could Philipp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1033,93,1035,12863,1036,88,90,89,98,1038,3516],"class_list":{"0":"post-34012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-2025-26","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-macklin-celebrini","11":"tag-philipp-kurashev","12":"tag-ryan-warsofsky","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-headlines","15":"tag-san-jose-news","16":"tag-san-jose-sharks","17":"tag-sharks-locker-room","18":"tag-yaroslav-askarov"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}