Preview/Lines #68: Maryland Native Giles Grew Up an Ovechkin Fan, Ostapchuk To Make Sharks Debut

Entering Tuesday night’s match-up between the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators, there were only two players from Maryland who had scored an NHL goal.

Now, there’s a new addition to the list. Patrick Giles, who was acquired from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Vitek Vanecek, became just the third player from Maryland to achieve the milestone when he scored in the third period of a 3-2 loss.

Patrick Giles becomes only third Maryland-born NHL player to score goal and first since 2014 https://t.co/8UvhqRS5mf

— RMNB (@rmnb) March 12, 2025

While Giles was unaware of the stat prior to chatting with San Jose Hockey Now on Friday, he noted, “There are a bunch of guys coming through, skates are getting bigger in the summer, the talent’s getting up…That number is gonna keep increasing in a couple of years.”

Now, less than a week later, he’s going to face the team and a player he idolized in his youth, Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

“I grew up right outside of DC and grew up a huge Caps fan,” said Giles, a native of Chevy Chase, MD which is just eight miles from the Capital One Arena in Washington DC. “It was right when [Ovechkin] was getting drafted and starting his career with Washington.”

Unsurprisingly, Ovechkin’s emergence into the NHL did wonders for hockey in the areas surrounding Washington, DC. For Maryland in particular, Giles was far from the only one inspired by the Russian forward. There were 10,164 players in the state registered with USA Hockey for the 2023-24 season. Right before Ovechkin was drafted into the NHL, during the 2003-04 season, that number was just 7,010.

Giles’ family will be making the trip to see him take on Washington for the first time, namely his grandmother Shannon, his parents and his two brothers. Although Giles has never faced the Capitals, neither with the Florida Panthers or San Jose Sharks, he does know the team pretty well.

“In August, when the Caps are getting back to the area, they do skates and invite some local guys,” Giles said. “I’m usually there pretty late, so it ends up just being me and the whole [Capitals] team.”

One of the players that Giles has been on the ice with in his summer skates with the Capitals was the aforementioned Alexander Ovechkin. As a result, the San Jose Sharks’ newcomer is looking forward to facing off against his former idol.

“It’s gonna be awesome just to be on the ice and be competing against those guys, especially with everything [Ovi]’s doing right now. Going for the [NHL goal-scoring] record. I’m just excited to get out there.”

San Jose Sharks (18-40-9)

Ryan Warsofsky will share more of the line-up at about 11:30 AM PT, but he did say Zack Ostapchuk will make his Sharks’ debut.

Georgiev starts, Grundstrom and Kovalenko sit

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 15, 2025

Georgiev is starting his seventh-straight this afternoon.

Warsofsky says Georgi Romanov should get a start during this eight-game homestand, which began on Mar. 8 and ends on Mar. 29.

“I think so,” Warsofsky said. “We’ll see.”

Keep in mind, there are no back-to-backs on this homestand and the Sharks have two four-day breaks built in too.

Washington Capitals (43-15-8)

Logan Thompson will start.

Caps Close California Trip in San Jose — Caps face Sharks in rubber match of road trip Saturday afternoon in San Jose: https://t.co/BZLTVGkoZi #ALLCAPS

— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) March 15, 2025

Where To Watch

Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals is 2 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.