Brodie’s Breakdown vs UTA (11/18)

Brodie’s Breakdown vs UTA (11/18)

Back here at the tank, Brody Brazil with Drew Amenda following a 3-2 Sharks overtime win over Utah. All is well that ends well, right? Not exactly how you draw it up. You go up two nothing early. We’re on Macklin hat-tick watch. We sit most of the game with a two nothing score. Utah ties it. JJ Burka was very difficult in the third period, but how do you describe the way this one played out? Well, you’re right. It wasn’t a very pretty game. In fact, the San Jose Sharks, I thought, were outplayed for most of the game. Um, their puck possession was almost nil. They didn’t get their forch check game going. They turned the puck over too many times. Credit the Utah Mammoth for how they pressure. I almost said hockey club. I almost did. I almost did. I I want to say Jazz, believe it or not, cuz you know I’m a big basketball guy. Rie calls him the Coyotes. He did. He did actually a couple times tonight. But when you look at the way that that that Utah was playing, they were they were bringing the pressure and the Sharks were not being able to to play the game they wanted. They really didn’t have a lot of offensive chances. They they only had 20 shots on net. Yeah. But I believe also in the clutch gene. And I asked Will Smith after the game, I said, because we had him on the interview on the radio side, I said, “When that hand goes up,” he goes, “Oh, yeah.” I start getting excited right away. I believe that there are guys out there that they want the puck. Like like Gene Hackman said to Keano Reeves in the replacements, when Keano, he said, “What do you want to do?” And Ke Reeves goes, “I want the ball.” Right? And he said, Gene Hackman said, “Winners always do.” Well, Mlin looked possessed individually on the power play in overtime. He had a couple good looks before he ultimately got the winner. And I mean, just his scoring prowess tonight, the two quick ones early, good setups by Will Smith, good setup by Colin Graph on the breakaway. Um, but for somebody to finish the job like this, I don’t think we talk about that enough. He gets opportunities, but lately, Drew, he’s been finishing the job. Yeah, he’s, you know, I watched tonight’s game and I thought to myself after that that winning goal, what’s the ceiling on this kid? It’s hard to predict right now. It really is. He has joined now in so many different categories, right? Wayne Gretzky, Sydney Cross, Mario Leu. In fact, tonight um he joined Mario, Sydney, and Wayne and some other like teenagers who scored hat two hatticks in a season or something like that for game winners. So, but his his mental game is as strong as I’ve ever seen. Not a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old. It’s veteran guys. He he wants the puck. He wants to win more than anything. He’s not the lequacious type as you hear on the interviews. Yeah. Um but he is a guy that believes that he can get it done with the help of his teammates. He he’s he’s always wanted to make sure he spreads the the praise around, of course. But with Mlin, I I have to think it’s his upbringing with his father Rick who is former pro athlete and does so much great work with with the Warriors and you know, a guy who who made high performance is science. But you’ve got a father like that and a brother that he has and a sister that he has that are very good athletes as well and their the whole whole family is about athletics. But you’ve got you’ve got a dad there that can show you why and how. Look at there’s that guy right over there. That’s Steph Curry. Firstand you can see it. There’s that Steph Curry guy working hard. This is why he’s doing that. And I and you we see it when we go to practice and he’s on the ice first all the time. He’s trying to perfect his craft and when he gets into this situation, he is a driven driven man. Still another game where the Sharks allow two or fewer to the opponent. It almost was a third goal. There was that challenge, that review, that goal taken away for Utah. But, uh, Yaros Vascarov is continuing to have a very good November. Yeah, exactly. His numbers are great this month. Really good. He was really mad at himself on the second goal. And I get it right. It slipped right through him. Goalies hate that when it goes Well, goies hate when any puck goes by. We’re past though the point where he’s just hot. You know what I mean? This is six starts in November where he’s he’s beyond just a small sample size. Absolutely. He’s got he’s got his game back and um you know those all those games last year with the Barracuda I saw play I saw him play in the playoffs firsthand he was had a 1.94 goals against average a 928 save percentage and the Barracuda were beat you know what in the playoffs and he still gave them a chance to win. He is a guy who always gives his team a chance to win especially the way he’s playing. It’s it’s in it’s we wondered at the start of the year, right? We thought start of the year was the season was this was what he needed to do was to make sure he he brought some confidence to the goalending position, right? And he and Alex Nadulkovich. Yeah, we we touted them at the start. Yeah, they’re going to be great. It’s going to be fine. This is the time that the San Jose Shark goalie was going to be there. No problem. And let’s be let’s be honest, started out shaky. Yeah. But then Ryan Rosski was asked about Yarao in I think it was Minnesota. about how he was playing. It was an honest question and he gave a very good answer about he hasn’t even played 20 games in the National Hockey League. He’s 23 years old, right? We believe in him, right? And I think that, you know, there’s that that saying that uh some coaches have that players need to know how much you care before they care about how much you know. In other words, you got to show the guy, hey, listen, I I believe in you. I know you can do it. That’s why you’re here. we’re gonna help you. And then they’ll talk about X’s and O’s after that, right? So, I think when Yaro felt that, yeah, they they they got my back. Yeah. And the Sharks have an outstanding goalie department. It’s what we expected coming to fruition. Yeah. Hey, final thing. Isn’t this another game and the way it played out where the Sharks last year, two years ago, three years ago get blown up. They lose. Yeah. They lose this game and and they might lose in regulation or they lose in overtime, but they don’t get two points. No, they don’t. That’s why this is different. It it is. From a coach’s point of view, they’re still not happy. Again, they’re not happy. Like, listen, coaches were were never happy. I’m going to say we cuz I was never happy. Unless the Stanley Cup was won tonight last game, you’re happy. But when when you look at this game, you’ll break this thing down. They’ll they’ll be mad. They’ll be even more angry after tomorrow watching on video. But that’s exactly See you on Thursday. Exactly. That’s exactly how they should be thinking. That’s exactly the message. And you’ll show the guys the video tomorrow. or and or maybe even Thursday morning and you’ll say, “Hey guys, this is blah blah blah blah blah what we need to be able to do better.” The guys already know that they didn’t play great, right? And they know that they were fortunate, but fortune favors the brave and they they they were able to get it done tonight. And heck, we’ve seen a lot of losses and you know, you you’re smart. You’re hockey fans. Hockey fans have to be smart. You saw the game they played. But this is a team now that has guys who can change the game like that for you. All right, we did it, Drew. We finished. We’ll see you next time.

Brodie Brazil and Drew Remenda break down the Sharks 3-2 overtime win against the Utah Mammoth on November 18, 2025.