Sharks Locker Room: Better in a Loss Than a Win

The San Jose Sharks were better in a 4-3 loss than a 7-2 win.

From the drop of the puck, the Sharks were better than the Ottawa Senators.

Per Natural Stat Trick, San Jose dominated with an 82-31 Shot Attempts, 39-11 Shots, and 21-3 High-Danger advantage in All Situations.

In contrast, the Los Angeles Kings arguably outplayed the Sharks through 40 minutes on Monday — it was 2-2 through two — before San Jose got hot with five in the final frame.

The Kings actually came out of a rout with a 57-40 Shot Attempts, 24-21 Shots, and 12-3 High-Danger edge.

That's just the 3rd time in #SJSharks history that they've given up 11 or less shots in a game. Both times happened 16 years ago!

🦈 4/15/08 @ CGY (10 shots against, 3-2 win)
🦈 10/28/08 vs. PIT (11 shots against, 2-1 win)

H/T @CurtisPashelka for the research idea!

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 28, 2024

To quote Macklin Celebrini on Monday: “I don’t know, the hockey gods?”

They are capricious, indeed.

Mario Ferraro, Celebrini, and Will Smith scored in a losing cause.

But if you believe in the process over the result, which I do, if the Sharks play more like did on Wednesday’s loss than Monday’s win, the hockey gods will reward them more often than not.

“Definitely. I would hope so,” Smith said.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, are playing good hockey but making big mistakes:

Results are shitty. But we played some good hockey. Probably gotta be smarter in some scenarios, which we’re learning. Frustrating night.

Warsofsky, on if he wants the San Jose Sharks to focus on how well they played or the mistakes they made:

The big mistakes, that cost us the game.

Warsofsky, on Luke Kunin:

It’s the best I’ve seen him skate. He’s skating. He’s obviously can break away there a little bit, on the breakaway. He’s engaged in the hockey game. He’s been physical. He’s been really good as of late.

Will Smith went without a point in his first 8 NHL games, but he has 3 goals and 5 assists in his last 12.

Warsofsky: "We knew he would figure it out at some point. He'll probably take another speed bump here along the way, but he's done some really good things."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 28, 2024

Warsofsky, on Smith’s response to his early season struggles:

We knew that he would. He’s a highly competitive kid. He wants to do well, he’s obviously very skilled. He’s done a lot of good things in his whole hockey career up to this date. We knew he would figure it out at some point. He’ll probably take another speed bump here along the way, but he’s done some really good things. He takes the coaching. You can see him trying to translate it. There’s obviously some things he needs to work on, but he’s taking some steps forward

Warsofsky, on Mackenzie Blackwood:

I thought he was good when he needed to be. Maybe one he would want back there. But it’s hard when you’re not getting a lot of shots, a lot of action. For so long, he’s been getting peppered back there.

Will Smith

Smith, on if the San Jose Sharks can play this way most nights, they’re going to win more games than not:

Definitely. I would hope so. It was almost a full consistent 60, but those times that we let up, obviously, the puck ends up in the back of our net.

William Eklund

Eklund, on assist to Celebrini:

There was a rebound there, their goalie was going really hard on me. I saw him backside, gave him the puck.

Luke Kunin

Kunin, on Smith’s performance:

I thought he played well. It was getting kind of chippy out there too, and he was playing hard, throwing some hits. I thought that was good to see.