This was not a game that a playoff team would lose.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just my opinion about the San Jose Sharks\u2019 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The obvious response? Well, this isn\u2019t a playoff team.<\/p>\n
So we can look at this defeat in the prism of this is a game that a future San Jose team might not blow.<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s crazy to even be talking about the post-season with a Sharks squad that hasn\u2019t been over .500 this \u201clate\u201d in the season since 2021-22. It\u2019s the first time since that year that we\u2019re legitimately talking about real victories and not just moral victories.<\/p>\n
These weren\u2019t the only mistakes in a game where San Jose struggled after a strong opening frame. But each of the Senators\u2019 three goals were caused by unforced Sharks\u2019 errors.<\/p>\n
Philipp Kurashev took an unnecessary retaliatory penalty on Jake Sanderson, after a hard-but-clean Sanderson hit, leading to a Dylan Cozens power play goal.<\/p>\n
The top line of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Kurashev changed early twice, resulting in a Fabian Zetterlund strike and Tim Stutzle\u2019s game-winner.<\/p>\n
On the Stutzle goal, I know fans are out for blood with John Klingberg for his failure to clear the puck in the crease after the initial Alex Nedeljkovic save, but I think that\u2019s crazy, that\u2019s a bang-bang play, not an obvious structural problem like the 2-on-0. Because there were no forwards back, Klingberg and Shakir Mukhamadullin were basically left on an island.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery immature,\u201d San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said about this loss, adding, \u201cvery uncompetitive when it came to puck battles, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see how the Sharks respond tomorrow against the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n
Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on the Fabian Zetterlund and Tim Stutzle goals:<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t change. Two goals, we shouldn\u2019t have changed.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on the San Jose Sharks power play:<\/p>\n
We\u2019re just disconnected. We got the one. You would think that would get us going, but we ad lib a lot of things, and that makes us unconnected, and you don\u2019t have success when [you\u2019re] that.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on Sharks\u2019 effort tonight:<\/p>\n
Very immature, very uncompetitive when it came to puck battles, as well.<\/p>\n
Will Smith<\/p>\n
Smith, on how his line\u2019s line changes could be better:<\/p>\n
Just got to time it more. We got put [the] other line in a tough position there when their D have the puck and they\u2019re coming at us pretty fast\u2026we just got to put them in a better spot.<\/p>\n
If it was a deeper puck [in their zone], it would probably have been a little better. We change when their D have the puck, just kind of puts the other line in a bad spot.<\/p>\n
Smith, on how it feels for himself and the other youngsters on the team to know that Ryan Reaves has their backs:<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t say enough good things about him. He\u2019s been awesome for this team, and he brings a great energy. We all love him.<\/p>\n
John Klingberg<\/p>\n
Klingberg, on what he saw on the Tim Stutzle goal:<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a D, I got to know what\u2019s going on behind me, but I\u2019m thinking it\u2019s a 1-1-3, so I\u2019m gapping up on Stutzle, and then they pass it, and there\u2019s a breakaway 2-on-0 behind me. I gotta realize that a lot quicker.<\/p>\n
And then, Ned obviously makes a huge save. I get stuck with my stick in his pad. Otherwise, I\u2019m clearing that on the goal line, but yeah, I just got stuck in his pad.<\/p>\n
Barclay Goodrow<\/p>\n
Goodrow, on how the San Jose Sharks\u2019 unforced errors doomed them tonight:<\/p>\n
Too many errors. Not enough O-zone time. Breakouts, not connected enough, and we were spending way too much time in our end.<\/p>\n
When we play the way we\u2019re capable of, we follow the game plan, it looks good on the ice. When we\u2019re not doing that, losing puck battles and off on our own page, it will look like that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was not a game that a playoff team would lose. That\u2019s just my opinion about the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1033,10375,93,1034,1036,88,90,89,98,1038,3578],"class_list":{"0":"post-66246","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-barclay-goodrow","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-john-klingberg","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-will-smith"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66246","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=66246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}