Brodie’s Breakdown vs. PIT (12/13)

Brodie’s Breakdown vs. PIT (12/13)

Brody Brazil here to recap. Game 33 on the season and the finale to a five-game road trip for San Jose. And so far, good efforts in three of the four results in two of the four. And the concept going into this Pittsburgh tilt was just beat the Penguins and the whole thing can easily be considered a success. Well, not only did this game make the roadie a positive statement, this comeback effort was literally one of the best we’ve ever seen in regulation, like maybe ever, by the Sharks. the obligatory football warm-up shot. And this time it’s Will Smith’s turn to try out his Steelers quarterback. He splits the uprights kind of like a kicker. Good coverage there by Delhi on Macklin downfield. Also nice to see Sharks alumni Scott Hannon at the game today. Yeah, looking good, bud. And this game was shot out of a cannon. Great chances both ways early on. Yarislav Ascarov’s first start back from illness in a week. He was definitely sharp early and it led to the Sharks getting on the scoreboard first. Right off the face off there, won by Wenberg. Dickinson gets it to Tofoley who gives us that sweet sound of bar down. It’s tofully time and you’ll see why I’m saying that in the next couple weeks. His first goal in five games and seventh on the season for 73. He had 30 goals last year, 33 the year before that and 34 the year before that. And of all the Sharks who can get hot and stay hot, you kind of feel like that might be right around the corner for Tofoley. Stay tuned. But the Penguins counter to end the first. Sydney Crosby here on the power play with goal 19 on the season. He’s on pace to pass 50 this year. A special day for Sid and for Randy and Drew. The first 7500 fans got one of these and we have one, too. And we have an exclusive interview with Sydney. Sydney, do you like scoring goals? Yes, he likes scoring goals. Would you like to play with Mlin Celibbrini at the Olympics? Yes, he would. And when you’re not playing, do you like watching Randy and Drew on the games? Yes, he does. A very agreeable Sydney Crosby this afternoon on Bobblehead Day. Your best interview ever. Thank you, Sid. And he actually looks the size of a kid here today as well. No, I don’t. No, I don’t. What you just witnessed right there was an Emmy award in the making. Congrats in advance, Randy. But what you’re about to witness here in the second period is the Penguins taking over this game. They pestered and peppered Ascarov with 20 total shots on goal in the middle frame. They scored three goals in the process and really started to open up this game. Trouble both early and late in this period. We’re 19 seconds in. Rucker McGory, great name by the way, all by himself on the zone entry. Creates just a little bit of space around Lety. And that was one heck of a shot. his first goal of the season in his sixth game with the Penguins. That’s why he’s so fired up. Instant momentum and a 2-1 tone setter for the rest of this stanza. We’re now almost precisely halfway through 20 minutes. Right off the draw, Puck goes up top. Ascarov makes that first save on the point shot, but the Penguins stay persistent. They retrieve. They get some nice interior passing. Kevin Hayes notches his third goal of the season. All of a sudden, it’s 3-1. The next score of this game is feeling quite critical and it’s this. The Penguins here on the power play in the final few seconds of the second period. Brian Rust had that first point blank chance. Watch him raise his hand in the slot for Sydney Crosby to give it right back to him and get another opportunity. And the one-time here is precisely placed top shelf. And of all the goals, this one hurts the most. Owen Nolan gave us some thoughts on this contest after 40. Uh first 10 minutes I thought they were good. They played smart defensively. They got the pucks deep. They worked hard down there. Got pucks to the net. For some reason the second half of that period they turned it into a track meet. And that plays right into Pittsburgh’s game. They love the transition game. And the Sharks had trouble covering them. Um Toronto they got down two goals. They did not change the program. They stuck with what they needed to do. They got back in that game and they ended up winning it. Here they just let this one get away from them. And now things start to turn even more frustrating for the Sharks. Phil Kurishev started this game for San Jose on the Celibbrini line. He took a spill into the inboards in the second period and was ruled out for the rest of the day. But now 3:30 into the third period, Parker Wtherspoon ended the game for Will Smith. Simple play as Mlin and Will enter the zone. Smith takes the puck to the outside. Wther spoon lined up Will and crunched him into the boards. Slow-mo gives you a better look as Smith was trying to make one more play on that puck which was already out of reach. Nothing to like here about the way Smith absorbed that hit and went into the boards and he almost instantly got up and made a beline straight to the dressing room. Nothing reassuring about what comes next. Meanwhile, the Sharks do respond after allowing five goals in a row to the Penguins in this game and John Clingberg having his best stretch of the season so far. Clingberg kind of just walked it in there from the dot, but now the Sharks retreat and Tofoley is ready to try again. And so he goes right back to Clingberg in the slot. This time it goes. That’s three goals in the last four games for Clingberg. And at 52, still no real threat, but stay tuned because the Sharks would get another one here later in the third. Ekkund maneuvering behind the cage and ultimately centering. Winberg had a good look. Goddette had a good opportunity to score, but it takes William Ecklund coming back in the play just divebombing into the scrum and it works. And are you starting to feel a little different now? Because you should. It’s 53. And you know what? Why not make it real interesting here on a Saturday afternoon? The Sharks have Ascarov pulled. So, they’ve got the extra attacker and they’ve got Mlin Celibbrini up high ready to rip a one-time. Kind of feels like a little redemption put on that puck right there. It goes. It’s 54 on the scoreboard with two and a half minutes to play. And the Sharks are not feeling done yet. One minute later, Scrum out front. The guy who started today’s game keeps it going past regulation for San Jose. Tyler Defoley second of the contest. It’s just an electric feeling to watch this all play out. At this point, no question the Sharks have shown you their heart and made a statement, but now they’ve got to go on to win this game, right? And so with Will Smith injured and the Sharks down by multiple goals in a 5-1 scoreboard at one point and then scoring the next four unanswered, this kind of felt like that Pavvelski payback playoff game in 2019. Watch the Clingberg Deak here. Whoop! And here we go. It’s John and Mack playing a little pitch and catch. Clingberg stays on the heater and delivers one of the best regulation wins in San Jose Sharks history. They were down 5-1. After allowing five in a row, they come right back and score their own five in a row. All in the third period and beyond. And we’ve got to take you inside the dressing room. I don’t think any of us like to see one of our teammates go down and um kind of take a hit like that. So, I think uh Aki did a good job kind of jumping in there and I just felt like I had to have his back. I mean, I think we had chances all game. Um, obviously they uh their power play is the best in the league and they they uh they have something special going over there, but I think we just did a great job just kind of staying with it. Um, playing as a team, kind of playing up and down our lineup even when uh we kind of got those injuries and those are group effort. I didn’t really think we were playing that bad. I mean, they they scored a couple goals in the power play. We had some really good looks early in the first period. They scored on their chances. We didn’t score on ours. Um their power play is the best in the league. So, you know, we give them a couple chances in the power play. The shot volume goes up. Ice tilts a little bit. Um you know, the message was really just we got to move pucks a little bit quicker uh coming out of our own end and then we’re not going to give up. They’re right. It’s right there for us. If we play the right way, we’ll get some looks. Um, we talked about, you know, getting one early in that in that third period and, um, you know, not exactly how we drew it up, but credit to that group in there. They were extremely resilient. Uh, tough road trip to finish that road trip like this and that type of game. That is impressive. Obviously, the only drawbacks to today’s game are the health status of Kurishv and Smith. Other than that, you don’t normally like to put yourself in a position to be down by four goals and really let a game get away from you. But on the flip side, look at the opportunity it created for the Sharks and look what they showed you about themselves in a 65 overtime win against the Penguins.

Brodie Brazil breaks down the Sharks 6-5 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 13, 2025.