San Jose Sharks
Sharks Locker Room: Anatomy of a Miracle Playoff Run?
COLUMBUS — The San Jose Sharks probably aren’t making the playoffs. But if they did it…
The Sharks have a model in the Columbus Blue Jackets, who they edged 3-2, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Fun exchange with Warsofsky pre-game 😆
SP: This Columbus team has won 19 of 27 games.
RW: Thanks for reminding me.
SP: When you beat them tonight, then you'll know that you did something tremendous!
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 29, 2026
San Jose is now four points behind the Nashville Predators for the last wild card spot in the West, with two games in hand, but four teams to leapfrog.
On Jan. 12, Rick Bowness took over the 19-19-7 Blue Jackets. Since then, Columbus has gone 19-5-4.
Before the game, head coach Ryan Warsofsky shared his thoughts about the Jackets’ renaissance and how the Sharks could replicate it. It was an interesting conversation about the psychology of a winning streak.
“You see it from afar, and then on film, they get a lot of buy-in. I’d say that’s what sticks out for me the most. It’s the way you have to play this time of the year, they’re getting a lot of buy-in from their whole group, from up and down their line-up,” Warsofsky said.
Isn’t buy-in a big part of a coach’s job? No doubt, but also…
“It comes with results, right? You start winning some hockey games,” Warsofsky said, “and we had a little bit of that when we were winning games there, before the Deadline.”
Warsofsky is talking about San Jose’s 13-7-0 stretch from Dec. 11 to Jan. 27. Now that’s no 19-5-3, but that was some of the Sharks’ best hockey this season. But…
“You can’t start a fire without a spark,” Bruce Springsteen sings in “Dancing In the Dark”.
“Maybe it’s a big win? Maybe it’s a winning streak, you get some wins under your belt,” Warsofsky said. “You get more buy-in organically through the dressing room.”
For the San Jose Sharks, that spark was clearly the miracle 6-5 OT comeback at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 13.
“And then when you lose a couple games,” Warsofsky admitted, “you fight that confidence.”
We’ve seen that recently, especially during the first five games of this just snapped six-game losing streak. San Jose was outscored 28-11 in that stretch.
That's the San Jose Sharks' first lead since 1-0 in the first period against the Edmonton Oilers on Mar. 17, by my count, 353:32.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 28, 2026
So can Igor Chernyshov’s last-minute game-winner be that spark? The Sharks, also, have just played two of their better games this season, the 2-1 OT loss at the St. Louis Blues, followed by tonight’s triumph, that “way you have to play this time of the year”.
Warsofsky elaborated post-game, “The last two games, we’ve played a little bit more of a direct hockey game, more north, quicker puck play, but going north quicker.”
And now, the Sharks are going home to friendly SAP Center, where they play seven of their last 11 games to end this season. They’re 17-12-5 in San Jose this year.
“Your confidence is going, you get the energy in the building,” Warsofsky said, “you feed off of that, and you get a little swagger.”
The San Jose Sharks probably aren’t making the playoffs. But from the nadir of this season, the 6-3 loss at the Nashville Predators to begin this road trip, it’s encouraging to see them fight back.
“We haven’t given up yet. We haven’t quit,” Macklin Celebrini said after the game. “Anything can happen.”
No matter what happens, this has been a successful season, and it’s not just because of Celebrini’s emergence as a superstar.
Collin Graf and Zack Ostapchuk have become reliable NHL forwards. Chernyshov, Will Smith, William Eklund, Michael Misa, and Sam Dickinson have shown significant growth from last year or in-season. Yaroslav Askarov has flashed elite puck-stopping promise.
And they’re all 23-and-under.
The development isn’t just physical either, it’s mental.
“I think we’ve had a lot of growth in this season. It’s funny, we get a lot of flack because we’ve fallen out of the playoff race here a little bit. We’re going to continue to push,” Warsofsky said. “But we’ve come a long way from day one, where we wanted to just hang in games, and sometimes not get blown out. To the point where the expectation is for us to win the game [now]. That’s a big jump, in my opinion, of where we’ve come this year. We go into games, thinking we can win them.”
Warsofsky may not have won at the NHL yet, but he’s won in both the ECHL and AHL, and took the gold at the 2025 World Championships, so he has some understanding about what winning looks like: “That takes a while to get to that mindset. I’m proud of the group for doing that, getting over that hump, so we’re in win mode. We gotta continue to build off that.”
Let’s see if the Sharks can do that, clock ticking on their season.
Macklin Celebrini
Celebrini, on Chernyshov's shot: "We were talking to him about shooting the puck a little bit more. That one, I think was easy, but he's got a hell of a shot, and we just want him to let 'er rip a little bit more."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 29, 2026
Alex Nedeljkovic
Nedeljkovic, from nearby Parma, says his parents, sisters, brother, two aunts, friends, minor league coaches & some of their kids were all here to watch his win: "It's always fun coming back to play, seeing familiar faces. This is a fun barn to play in, too. It's always loud,…
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 29, 2026
Will Smith
Smith laughed when I asked if Chernyshov called for the puck on the GWG: "I mean, we're pretty far away, but I just saw him kind of lift his stick up, and then got to make decision pretty quick, and he did the rest."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 29, 2026
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky: "I truly believe this team can get hot. When we play good hockey, we play the right way, we got buy-in, guys are going, we're determined, and we have some desperation to defend, we can get hot."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 29, 2026
I like our defensive game last couple games. Leddys playing some good hockey
He honestly is
That’ll rile up the boo birds…
I thought it was absurd to bring Leddy back, but I have way more faith in his ability to have a responsible, mistake-free shift than Klingberg.
Agreed for the most part. Klingberg still provides the one thing no other defender can at this point, offensive creativity. Granted it wasn’t doing the team a lot of good lately.
If we could just have December Klingberg everything would be fine…Christmas Klingberg
“Chris Klingberg”? Like Swedish Santa…?
The D pairings of Orlov-Vinny, Mario-Mukh & Dickie-Leddy are an improvement. Not going to get much offense out of this D-corps but they are fairly sound defensively.
That’s all this D-corps needs to be, just sound defensively and get the puck moving north. There is enough firepower in the forward group to handle the offensive side of the game.
The Fireworks Factory goes BOOM!
Unfortunately the offense is really only coming from one line.
If you’re rooting for 2026 Sharks draft today, you wanted: FL over Isles (didn’t happen) VGS over WSH — VGS gets a point CGY over VAN — CGY with the win LAK over UTA (3pt game preferred?) — UTA wins in regulation WPG over COL — unexpected, but yes, WPG with the W!! NSH over MTL — (didn’t happen) StL in a 3 pt game vs TOR — STL gets reg W SEA over BUF — SEA gets 1 pt NJD over CAR — (didn’t happen) ANA over EDM — (didn’t happen) and of course, the Sharks to lose —… Read more »
And if we’re rooting for the playoffs, it’s the opposite results right?
in some cases. The Devils, for example, are irrelevant to playoffs but are to draft lottery seed. But in many cases, yes opposites apply. Really good way to develop bipolar disorder.
Not rooting for draft position until they’re realistically eliminated. Too close ATM.
Given the discussion of fatigue and Macklin — to be clear, fatigue can manifest itself in a variety of different ways. Players who have too many miles on them can still play well even great. Its just less consistent. My favorite ‘fatigue’ thing was a player who knew he was playing too many minutes and decided to save himself for bigger moments. Patrick Marleau once went an entire season scoring just 1 goal in the first period. That doesn’t happen if he’s playing hard in period 1. Players can deal with fatigue — and adapt to it. Maybe they cruise… Read more »
Patty was a ghost in the playoffs.
Patty was one of the best. Here’s some info I googled:
Clutch Performer: Despite narratives regarding his teams’ struggles, Marleau’s 16 game-winning goals show high-stakes production, leading the league in that category between 2002 and 2018.
2004 Playoffs: Recorded two hat tricks in the that year (vs. St. Louis, vs. Colorado).
Longevity: Appeared in the playoffs in 20 different seasons, which is tied for third-most in NHL history.
100-Point Milestone: Achieved his 100th career playoff point in 2014, becoming a member of an elite group of postseason scorers.
I would look more at PPG stats. He benefited from a team that played more playoff games than most. The reality too is that he didn’t take off offensively until Jumbo came to the Sharks. Took a lot of pressure off him to be “the guy”.
This simply isn’t true. 72 goals and 55 assists for a total of 127 points in 195 playoff games is far from being a “ghost in the playoffs”.
almost identical numbers to Marian hosa who is widely considered a playoff performer. Except Hosa was always the third guy
lol this narrative is still floating around?
Not 100% true. He was big in later rounds some years and a killer in many 1st rounds. Very streaky, and I think more was expected out of him than he could realistically deliver. He rarely played on a team with legit scoring depth too. The major flaw of almost all DW built teams.
As one of the few holdouts believing the Sharks could still nab a playoff spot, I’ll say this game was essential. They gained ground today on Nashville, LAK, Seattle and Vegas.
If the NHL used the same “games behind’ metric used in other sports, the Sharks would be a 1/2 game behind LAK and SEA, 1 game behind Nashville and 2 behind Vegas. The latter two are both in a playoff spot now.
Good lord, I can’t believe how close they still are. If they would have gone .500 over the previous 6 games we would be focused on who they’re likely playing in the first round.
As someone who doesn’t love how Ferraro plays, I admit he’s been serviceable for a while now. Still don’t want him re-signed but must give credit where it’s due.
Ive got no respect for any sharks fan who doesn’t have respect for Ferraro. Don’t have to like him, but he deserves respect.
Chum, I’m picking up a Rodney Dangerfield vibe. Is that what you’re going for?
I love the person, not the player.
Collin Graf and Zack Ostapchuk have become reliable NHL forwards. Chernyshov, Will Smith, William Eklund, Michael Misa, and Sam Dickinson have shown significant growth from last year or in-season. Yaroslav Askarov has flashed elite puck-stopping promise. Graf’s pretty much the same player as last year, which was already pretty decent. Reliable, yes. Ostapchuk I like but can only be given an Incomplete, skating around with Goodrow and Reaves mostly. Not a real line. Smith, Eklund, and Dickinson have not shown significant growth from last year, or over the course of this one for Dickinson. The premise that it’s been a… Read more »
Sorry but your takes are absurd during a losing streak. To double down after possibly the most incredible win of the year is just obtuse.
You were maxed out on wrongness when you said Graf is the same player. I blacked out and couldn’t even focus after being hit with that nonsense
Yup. Mind numbingly negative and wrong for that of being a troll.
No, actually twisting in the wind and changing your opinion of the organization based on the result of the last game is moronic. Suits you perfectly.
Another way of looking at it is there is a very real possibility of young players regressing when too much pressure/responsibility is placed on them, and we haven’t seen that at all. I think Dickinson was most at risk of that, and he’s dealt with his mistakes well, even if there are still too many of them. I disagree that Eklund has taken a step this year – to me, the recent losing streak shows how limited the scoring depth is, and as the team’s ~4th best forward (I would place him behind Mack, Wennberg, and around the same as… Read more »
The Sharks are running out 6 3rd pairing D every night. Even Edmonton at least has Bouchard. It’s probably the worst blue line in the league. And I am saying that with love because these guys have shown a lot of heart being essentially set up to fail in minutes that can only be considered unfair. Even Dickinson is starting to break in on the PP and has been PKing for a bit. He’s made of pretty strong stuff mentally, even in juniors, he’s always taken some lumps and then learned from them and then steamrolled them. Not quite the… Read more »
Horse shit, double D. I can squint and see reasoning on Eklund but I just don’t see much more of a ceiling with him the way some others do.
Did you see him get rag dolled on the wall giving up the puck leading to the first goal in the opening minute?
Yeah but that’s the same ol, same ol criticism I have for his ability. I admire his heart. I just can’t see past his limitations that believe will keep him from being a cup winning contributor.
Why do you even follow this team at this point? All you do is shit all over them all season long.
It’s obvious to anyone with a half-working brain that this season has been a huge success. Hardly anyone thought they’d be putting up much more points than they had last season, let alone be in a playoff race this late in the year. Yet here they are, outperforming all expectations. And here you are, shitting all over them yet again. Why bother?
Calmer than you are.
OooOooo you really got him Double D. What a master of the written word you are. Where is your Substack? I absolutely MUST subscribe! 🙄
Calmer than you are.
lol! My bpm doesn’t go north of 65 interacting with a hurt little pest like you.
Dude, you are a trip and are such a negative person. It seems you are just trolling to troll at this point. Either way, I know it won’t matter to you, but this is the last time I respond to you. I sure hope whatever it is in life that makes you such a downer, gets better for you and that you can find happiness somewhere along the way. Cheers and go Sharks.
Oh no, what will I do without your crying that I exist and say what I think? Your replies, they are so instructive and helpful. Wow, I really messed up this time. Dang it.
Awww how cute. Look at you trying to copy me. You’re adorable!
Smith came into his sophomore year playing at the same level he hit in the second half of last year. He slumped after an injury but has now shown more physicality at the end of a season during the time where everyone is on the hunt for playoff spots. That’s growth. Dickinson is a rookie, not sure I understand you saying no growth from “last year”. If you’re saying he’s playing at the same level in the pros as he did in the minors and has been able to play essentially a full season in the NHL, defending elite players,… Read more »
I agree that chuck should get some time with the top 6, he’s earned it imo. I think his impact would be greater than Eklund if he were given the opportunity because he’s big and fast and he knows it. He’s got some skill too. Also you’re leaving out Misa, sometimes he flashes so bright with his explosiveness and puck handling he looks like a combo of Marleau and Malkin for a split second. The sky’s the limit for that kid.
That’s not great coaching IMO. He’s not offensively creative enough to play with even this top 6. 3rd line? Sure. top 6? not the way he plays currently.
We haven’t focused enough on the team growth apparent in this game. Against Buffalo (twice) and Nashville, the team started off in the wrong foot and the game snowballed out of hand. Yesterday, the first goal against came 31 seconds in. They battled back, got a lot of chances and tied it. They continued to carry play, but a mistake led to another goal. Did they give up? NOOOOOOO!!! It was just like after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. They rallied together and kept playing the right way and finally the results came. It’s massive growth that we saw. Let’s… Read more »
> the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
mate
Have you not seen Animal House? I posted the link a while back in a comment thread.😉
https://youtu.be/q7vtWB4owdE?si=XU0tDv3tPSvT5efg
okay Thanks guys.
Animal House references get a thumbs up. So do Blues Brothers. And Young Frankenstein. And nicely mixed metaphors.
They used to play that clip on the Jumbotron in the 90’s at the game when we were down in the 3rd the crowd would go crazy. They also used to do a Cheers thing that would get everyone fired up.
Yep, I remember that!
Sharks were the better team all night, but still down a goal in the third. We’ve seen that script before. It usually involves some line juggling.
Not last night. The players got rewarded for good process, first by the coaching staff, then by the result.
Yes – this. Pleasantly surprised. Warso needs to throw away the line blender and show some commitment to these lines. It’s our best chance to promote growth and winning.
Not if they aren’t playing well. That simply not how it works.
To me, that’s the cool thing about last night. They were playing well, just getting shit puck luck, but they stuck with it and didn’t lose their stuff. They were playing great against Buffalo and the wheels came off only a week ago
Totally agree. Even if they lost last night, I like the way they played.
Obvious observation of the day:
I much prefer Happy Mack vs Sad Mack in post-game interviews.
Sad Mack makes me feel like I’ve personally disappointed him.
Honestly we need to be better
I blame Al. 🤨🤣
Al is like sad Mack, but at all times. The dude could win Powerball and get a date with Margot Robbie, but still complain that he should have won sooner and that he won’t go out with Margot because he hated Wolf of Wallstreet.