Sharks Locker Room: Barabanov Rising, Duclair Struggling

The San Jose Sharks have joined some unfortunate franchise company with their 10th straight loss, a 2-1 nailbiter to the Winnipeg Jets.

Alexander Barabanov scored the lone goal for Team Teal. Mackenzie Blackwood made a strong return from an illness, stopping 28-of-30 shots, in his first appearance since before Christmas.

However, it’s the Sharks’ second double-digit losing streak this season, after San Jose started the year 0-10-1. It’s just the second time in franchise history that they’ve had a double-digit losing streak twice or more in a season: The 1992-93 Sharks had three double-digit losing streaks in the team’s sophomore campaign.

We’re not even halfway through this year, so there’s still plenty of time for these Sharks to catch up to that 11-win squad.

For what it’s worth, San Jose seems close to snapping their skid, as their last three losses have all been one-goal games late.

“Our guys are competing their asses off,” Quinn said. “They keep plugging away and they’re gonna show up again tomorrow and work hard and we’re gonna get out of this. It’s been a bear of a schedule and we’re not playing Los Gatos High.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier though, the San Jose Sharks’ next two games are a home-and-away set with the 19-10-7 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Quinn discussed promoting Barabanov (to the first line) and demoting Anthony Duclair (to the fourth) tonight. Ty Emberson talked about partner Mario Ferraro’s recent offensive exploits. Blackwood and Luke Kunin both mentioned their recent struggles.

David Quinn

At least Quinn's sense of humor intact: "Our guys are competing their asses off..we're gonna get out of this. It's been a bear of a schedule & we're not playing Los Gatos High."

"[The Jets] look different when they finish checks because they're a little bit bigger than we are."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 5, 2024

Quinn, on what happened on the Gabe Vilardi game-winner:

When we go places sometimes on the PK, it’s not fast enough. And then when the puck moves, we don’t recover quick enough. Winning goal, we just came out of the corner, went to the wrong guy. We had two guys covering the bumper guy and the guy who should have covered the guy on the backdoor didn’t.

Quinn, on if no morning skate today might have contributed to the San Jose Sharks’ slow start tonight:

I certainly thought about that, standing behind the bench. We’ll never do that again.

Quinn, on the sequence of events that led to the Filip Zadina penalty:

We just fished for a puck. We come on the ice, we got a good wedge, and we fish for a puck on Lowry, and he goes down, gets inside and we got to take a penalty on him. You can’t be fishing for pucks in the neutral zone. People are going to beat ya.

Quinn, on Barabanov’s improved play:

He’s missed a lot of hockey. I anticipated this progression for him. He’s playing better and better. He’s back to where I envisioned him being before the season started.

Quinn, on what he needs more of from Anthony Duclair:

Just more consistency.

Quinn, on any particular areas where Duclair needs more consistency:

Just a little bit everything.

More Quinn on the Jets: "They're good at everything. They don't have a weakness. They defend hard. They've got a great forward group, got a great D group, and a great goalie. They're well-coached."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 5, 2024

Ty Emberson

Emberson, on Mario Ferraro’s offensive game recently:

He’s been really good at breaking pucks out, [that’s] where him and I, we’ve been working together pretty well. Quinny always talks about having that D be that fourth layer on the rush. I think Mario has really done a really good job of getting his feet moving and being that option.

Mackenzie Blackwood

Blackwood, on a strong bounceback game for himself after some recent struggles:

Good to get back and have a good game. [Had] a couple of tough games there. Sometimes, they don’t go the way you want. If you just keep sticking to the game plan, things turn around. It was nice to have a better game tonight.

Luke Kunin

Kunin, on where his overall game is at right now, since his return from injury:

I definitely think there’s more. Personally, I want to be helping production-wise. Help us win hockey games wherever that may be. When you’re winning, everyone’s individually feels better. That’s my mindset is winning hockey games.