Sharks Locker Room: Beginning of End of Season Encouraging

It was a tough Trade Deadline for the San Jose Sharks, but they showed some mettle in a 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders.

They probably actually outplayed New York, especially in a first period where they jumped on a sleepy Isles squad, 17-1 shots.

But they couldn’t score, and the Islanders grabbed the lead with their second shot of the game and didn’t look back.

But for a Sharks squad that keeps taking hits, it was good to see this resiliency.

“Not like we were just gonna come out and roll over, we’re still an NHL hockey team, we played a good game, we had a lot of chances,” Macklin Celebrini said. “We play games like this, those shots will start going in, I think we’ll start getting a little bit more bounces.”

That said, it’s not easy to keep getting knocked down and getting up.

In December, GM Mike Grier traded No. 1 goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. In February, No. 1 center Mikael Granlund and No. 2 defenseman Cody Ceci. And over the last couple days, No. 1 defenseman Jake Walman, scoring winger Fabian Zetterlund, solid defensive center Nico Sturm, and alternate captain Luke Kunin.

Hopefully, this is the end of the Sharks having their roster undermined.

Can they keep tonight’s level of compete and engagement up?

“There’s jobs to be won here for the future of this organization,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “If you don’t realize that, you’re in the wrong business. You got to get your head above the water here a little bit.”

That’s easier said than done, as we saw with a San Jose squad that looked like they were on a death march to close last season.

Most of those Sharks did not win NHL jobs.

Game One after the Trade Deadline, it was an encouraging start to the end of the season.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Patrick Giles and Vincent Desharnais’s San Jose Sharks’ debuts:

They both asserted themselves pretty well. Obviously, big guys, I thought Pat did some good things out there. Obviously things he’s got to work on, as well as Vinny. But obviously, gives us some size and some length, which is nice.

Warsofsky, on the breakdown on Anders Lee’s game-winning goal:

Kostin is going to have to come through and get in on Lee. Obviously, he’s a big guy, but Kostin’s job is to go through on that. Our defense was there to help it. He’s a layer for that. Really shouldn’t be a goal we give up.

Warsofsky, on if Alexandar Georgiev has to be better:

Look, he had some big saves too. I’m sure there’s a couple goals he may want back. But looking at him quickly, those are some tough saves. The one he gets screened on, on the power play, the one, boom, boom, off the face off, the one’s off Mario’s stick. You really can’t fault him for those. He made some big saves. We still believe in him. Gives us a good chance to win a hockey game.

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini, on the San Jose Sharks’ effort after a tough Trade Deadline:

Not like we were just gonna come out and roll over, we’re still an NHL hockey team, we played a good game, we had a lot of chances…We play games like this, those shots will start going in, I think we’ll start getting a little bit more bounces.

Barclay Goodrow

Goodrow, on adding Alex Wennberg, officially, to the leadership group:

He’s been around the league a long time. He’s played a lot of games. A great job for us this year. Even though he hasn’t been wearing an “A”, he’s been a great leader on our team the whole year. The “A” on his jersey is just kind of a formality.