Sharks Locker Room: What Does San Jose Have To Learn About Winning in NHL? A Lot

“We don’t know what it takes to win in this league.”

You can’t argue with head coach Ryan Warsofsky, after the San Jose Sharks dropped their sixth in a row, 6-3, to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Shakir Mukhamadullin, Will Smith, and Tyler Toffoli scored in Tomas Hertl’s return to SAP Center.

Remarkably, this was the fifth game of those six straight losses that the Sharks had a lead in the third period, only to blow it.

San Jose lost the game in almost record-setting fashion, surrendering two short-handed goals in 23 seconds early in the final frame, turning a 3-2 lead into a deficit.

On October 13, 1991, in the Sharks’ expansion month, they gave up two shorties in 12 seconds to the Chicago Blackhawks in a 7-3 defeat. So tonight was the second-fastest two shorthanded goals allowed in franchise history.

So what do these San Jose Sharks have to learn about winning in the NHL?

The Sharks have been saying the right things throughout the losing streak, and cliché or not, it’s all true.

Like Cody Ceci said after a 4-3 loss to Utah Hockey Club on Dec. 14, they need a third period “killer instinct”.

“You can be dominating, and they can get a bounce,” Jake Walman said after a 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 17. “If something like that happens, it’s staying consistent and kind of getting back to what we’re good at.”

“Special teams are huge,” Luke Kunin said after a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 19.

In this skid, Sharks’ special teams are a net -6 (three power play goals for, seven power play goals plus two short-handed goals against).

“We just couldn’t kill any plays,” Mikael Granlund said after a 2-1 loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 21. “Didn’t really touch the puck, and they win the battles, a lot of those things, and that gives them a lot of the o-zone time and just defending all day.”

It’s been true about the Sharks since 2019-20: When good teams want to turn it on against them, they simply do. Tonight, San Jose had a solid two periods, then Vegas outchanced them 12-3 and 5-0 High-Danger at 5-on-5 in the final frame.

“Massive mistakes. We give up the breakaway to JT Miller, we haul him down, 5-on-3, they score. Right after that, we give up a 2-on-1, he misses. Those are massive mistakes, and we got to have some mental toughness to push through those times,” Ryan Warsofsky said after a 4-3 loss at the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 23.

Two short-handed goals against in 23 seconds qualify as massive mistakes.

So if you’re keeping score…having a killer instinct at critical times, staying consistent in play and approach, better special teams, killing plays defensively, and avoiding massive mistake after massive mistake are what the Sharks need to learn about winning.

That’s a long checklist, and progress is going to be incremental. A successful rebuild takes years, not months or days, and is as much about having better players as it is a better mindset.

For what it’s worth, opponents can see some progress.

“I know the record lately isn’t as good as they would like, but they seem like when you’re watching them, they’re in every game, finding ways to lose as opposed to win,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a learning curve for whatever team goes through that, I just think they’re more competitive in terms of their attack mentality, how they want to play the game, and that’s what I saw tonight, as opposed to the first time [against San Jose].”

That’s true too, hollow as that sounds for the still-smarting Sharks.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on what happened on the short-handed goals against:

We stopped skating, stopped hunting the puck, and then ended up in the back of our net.

Warsofsky: "We don't know what it takes to win in this league."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 28, 2024

Warsofsky, on the Celebrini line:

I think offensively, they do some good things.

But what we’re trying to build here is winning habits, foundation habits, to win in this league, and you see organizations up and down this league, that are still struggling with their young players to figure out what it takes to win.

It needs to start now. It can’t start in two, three years. It needs to start now. That is a message with our group, with our younger players, with our older players, the winning foundational habits that you need to play with in this league to win. It’s pretty simple and pretty direct. And if we don’t do that, this is going to be a long process, and we don’t want it to be a long process.

Warsofsky, on Shakir Mukhamadullin:

I thought he was one of our best d-man.

Warsofsky, on Alexander Georgiev’s performance:

I thought he made some good saves. when we needed him to. I’d have to go back and he’d have to look at it. But he was fine tonight.

Will Smith

Smith, on if he felt like he was due, after a lot of scoring chances recently:

I think I definitely was due. Obviously, you want to score all your chances, but it’s just not gonna happen unless you stick with it.

Smith, on seeing the reception that Tomas Hertl received:

It was awesome. I remember watching his games and his four-goal game versus the Rangers. So it’s pretty cool to watch. Their reception was great.

Smith, on if he can pull off that famous Hertl move on Martin Biron:

I think so. Hopefully.

Shakir Mukhamadullin

Mukhamadullin, on if scoring his first NHL goal helped him play more confident:

I’m trying to not thinking about the points, but sometimes, it’s stays in your head. But yeah, I feel like playing more confident, but I still have a lot of things where I need play better.

Mukhamadullin, on how Sharks be better in the third period:

We just need to play with same pace like we play first two periods.

Alexander Wennberg

Wennberg, on if something mental is keeping San Jose Sharks from closing out games:

Not really.

Everyone here knows what to do. I feel like sometimes you get a little bit too passive, and you’re worrying about them scoring goals instead of you just kind of like pushing the gas.

But I mean, there’s nothing to worry about here. This is obviously something we can learn from. We’re going to be in this situation a lot more times, so I feel like it’s just, it’s something you got to look [at].