Sharks Locker Room: ‘It’s the little stuff’

BUFFALO — “It’s the little stuff.”

The San Jose Sharks won their second-straight, trouncing the Buffalo Sabres 6-2.

Timothy Liljegren, Nico Sturm, William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Tyler Toffoli scored…but that’s not what head coach Ryan Warsofsky wanted to talk about.

“It should probably be the storyline of this game,” Warsofsky said about Marc-Edouard Vlasic setting the all-time blocked shots record with 2,165.

It’s telling that nobody online, in my cursory search, clipped this remarkable unremarkable play, Vlasic (44) setting the blocked shots record.

“I think that as a coach is what I look for,” Warsofsky said. “The goals and the assists and the points are great, but those are the things, when you start building the culture, is what you start seeing.”

Blocked shots weren’t the only little things that he was talking about.

“It’s Nico Sturm in a [4-2] game, having a second effort to get the puck deep. It’s a blocked shot from Barclay Goodrow [in the win] last night,” Warsofsky said.

Klim Kostin (10) beats two Sabres to the puck and changes. Sturm (7) dives to get it in, keeping Buffalo 200 feet away from the San Jose net.

“We’re playing to the buzzer. We’re playing whistle-to-whistle. We’re playing for 60 minutes. No one takes a shift off,” Warsofsky said. “No matter what the score is.”

Out of nowhere, the San Jose Sharks have reinvigorated their almost dead-in-the-water season, now 2-2-2 on this post-4 Nations break road trip. In every game, they’ve had either the lead or were tied in the third period.

They’re not going to make the playoffs, but this is the longest stretch of winning-worthy hockey that the Sharks have played in months.

Maybe, just maybe, this rebuilding team is learning to play winning hockey?

Hopefully, youngsters Celebrini and Smith and Eklund and company are watching what veterans Vlasic and Sturm and Goodrow and company are doing closely — and not what the talented but immature Sabres are doing.

“14 years” chant for 14 years out of the playoffs for the Sabres pic.twitter.com/4wOIepGjKZ

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 5, 2025

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini says "it's a great vibe" around #SJSharks locker room right now: "You never want to accept losing, because that's just building bad habits. It definitely feels good when you start getting wins, you start feeling like you're getting rewarded for your work."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 5, 2025

Celebrini, on the San Jose Sharks’ new neutral zone forecheck:

I like it. It definitely helps force pucks out of their hands more times. We’re getting more pucks. It’s just whether we can figure out communication on the breakouts and our routes and stuff. It’s still a learning curve. We’re still trying to kind of figure it out, but I think it’s definitely helped get the puck out of their hands and help us get a little bit more momentum.

Alexandar Georgiev

Georgiev, on how the Sharks played in front of him in back-to-back wins:

They’re playing very well. There is this desperation to get the big blocks and make the right play. We really feel that’s making a big difference now. We’re just more poised and feels like doing a lot of good things to keep the puck out of the net at the right times.

Georgiev, on Vitek Vanecek being held out for trade reasons:

It’s part of the business. Unfortunately, sometimes players get moved. I don’t know if it’s happened or not yet, but obviously, he was supposed to start. Hopefully, it’s a good opportunity for him, probably a contender team, I would assume. Should be very happy with the opportunity, hopefully, it’s a good one for him.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Georgiev going back-to-back:

Thought again, really good. Made some big saves when we needed him to in the first, especially, and then locked it down. He was really solid tonight again.

Warsofsky, on Celebrini’s performance:

He was really good tonight. Him and Will were really good. As you guys can probably see yourselves, Macklin is going to be extremely special. And I’m not even talking about the goal-scoring ability, [it’s] the way he competes, the way he plays a 200-foot center game at 18 years old, the way he drags people into the fight with his leadership. It’s fun to sit there in the front row and watch it.

Warsofsky, on the Sharks getting rewarded for playing the right way:

It’s the little stuff. It’s Nico Sturm in a [4-2] game, having a second effort to get the puck deep. It’s a blocked shot from Barclay Goodrow last night. We’re playing to the buzzer. We’re playing whistle-to-whistle. We’re playing for 60 minutes. No one takes a shift off. No matter what the score is. We’re never going to stop and we’re going to keep playing.

I think that as a coach is what I look for. The goals and the assists and the points are great, but those are the things, when you start building the culture, is what you start seeing.

Warsofsky, on Vlasic setting the blocked shots record:

It should probably be the storyline of this game, his blocked shot record, that is quite the feat to do that in one organization. He knows how to play the position, puts his body in the lanes, blocks big shots his whole career. You guys have seen it. That is a huge story tonight for our hockey team. I know how proud each of his teammates are. They gave him a standing ovation in the locker room, there was quite the scene, so well-deserved.

After the game, Warsofsky said he hadn't heard if Vanecek had been traded or not yet.

From what I understand, he's still with the team.

They're on the way to Denver now

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 5, 2025