WINNING MENTALITY: San Jose Sharks Show Grit and GRIND Out Victories Over Elite NHL Teams

WINNING MENTALITY: San Jose Sharks Show Grit and GRIND Out Victories Over Elite NHL Teams

The Sharks are in the midst of a sixgame point streak. What have we learned over the past week from them? You’re Locked on Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked on Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the Reef, also the co-host of Locked on NHL. Want to thank you for making the Locked On Sharks your first listen. Proudly part of the Locked Onet uh where we cover your team every day and we are now the number one sports network uh out there people. That’s it. Us little old locked on. Uh we are the number one sports podcast network. So uh if you want to be an everyday dare, all you have to do is just follow along wherever you get podcast. And of course you can watch on YouTube as well. And today we’re going to be talking about what we learned from the San Jose Sharks this past week as they have learned how to win games in different ways. Why they look at how the goalending has become a gone from a major liability to a major asset and the Sharks now have time to make decisions. So, uh, before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Dial the FanDuel up now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So, um, we know these the Sharks are in the middle of a, uh, you know, six game, hopefully in the middle of a sixgame point streak here. And this this Sharks team has, uh, quietly dragged itself back into the playoff race. Not that I think they’re still a playoff team, but it’s nice that they’re playing competitive hockey right now. Um, so what have we learned from this team over the past week? And this is like a weekly episode we’re going to be doing at the beginning of every week. Uh usually Monday or Tuesday depending on uh either Sharks games andor other things like uh with Joe Thornton going into the Hall of Fame. Wanted to have Kyle on to discuss Joe Thornton. Uh because there’s nobody better in the world to discuss Joe Thornton than Kyle Demetrius. So if you missed that episode, go check out uh that episode. But um like this team, right, as as we’ve gone through, you know, we’re five, six or about a month into the season now, right? Uh a little over a month into the season, we’ve seen this team grow a lot in front of our eyes, right? A team that at the beginning of the year couldn’t uh you know, a stop a nose bleed and b couldn’t hold a lead. Uh but we’ve seen this team over the past, you know, couple weeks and especially this last week, learn how to play these close, tight hockey games, right? And grind out wins. Uh you the Sharks here, you know, of course they got big wins over the weekend with a 3 to1 win over the Florida Panthers and then a uh 2 to1 win over the Winnipeg Jets uh as well as a six to1 win over uh the Seattle Crack in a game where they, you know, were able to um really like in the third period of that game just kind of put a team away. Something we really haven’t seen that this the Sharks team do, right? Uh, and then in Winnipeg, a game where we saw these Sharks. Um, they tried to put the Jets away and of course Connor Hlebuk was just outstanding in that game. Um, but you know, we saw them control the pace of play. We saw them creating offense in the third period even with a lead. Um, you know, trying to to get that third goal and try to put a team away. And something that we really failed to see the Sharks team do um especially last season where they blew million different uh leads last year, especially in the third period. And then we saw a team in, you know, the second night of a back-to-back uh where you play the President’s Cup Trophy one night and then you play the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion the next night. Um and a team that held on, right? very much a uh Asky hanging by the clothes line, hang in their baby line. Uh and Ascrov did that. Um but and again, you took advantage of your opportunity and you got an empty net to put a team away. So this this Sharks team, this young Sharks team with, you know, so much of its most important players are its youngest players, right? And Mlin Celbrini and Will Smith. Um, you know, and now that it sounds like Equin’s coming back here really soon, and you know, just the the the core pieces of this team are its youngest pieces. Um, this team is is learning different ways to win. We’ve seen them early in the season, right? We’re the only way we can win games right now is six to five. Uh, and it it brought for extremely entertaining hockey, right? Um, but now this this team is starting to learn how to, you know, have different ways to win, right? Where you c you can’t just always outscore your problems. And I still think this year the Sharks are probably going to have to outscore a lot of their problems. But right now, they’re they’re learning that other like uh other ways to win. They’re learning that uh that change up. They’re learning that that different pitch. Um, so that way if you can’t get into six to five type of of games, how else can you try to stack up points here? And doing it not only against like just doing like winning these types of games, uh, I still think in the long run, right, you have to be able to score goals. Uh, you can’t win every game two to one. It’s too hard. It’s it the margin of error is too small if you try to win all these games two to one. But you you do need to know how to do it, right? Um and the Sharks starting to figure this out, right? Starting to not make some of the dumb mistakes and not have those just five minutes of chaos where they just cannot get out of their own way. and a team that is starting to kind of come together and everyone’s starting to figure out where they fit in the hierarchy and whose role is what and how they fit among it. And I I think this is big for the Sharks, right? Uh because we we saw glimpses of this last year, especially uh around this time last year, right, with Mackenzie Blackwood playing out of his mind. Um you know, kind of that November to December before McKenzie Blackwood got traded to Colorado. this team was playing solid hockey at times and I think you’re seeing that again uh this year, but I think it’s more sustainable this this year compared to what we saw last year. Um do I think what they’re doing is is sustainable for a playoff run? No. Like there’s still a lot of under the you know hood type of numbers of you know just how they’re kind of they’re getting ridiculous puck luck right now. They’re shooting the the re like they’re just shooting the crap out of the puck right now because of of their shooting percentage team-wise and they’re not generating a ton of sustainable offense, right? Um but again, they’re taking advantage of their opportunities, which good teams do, right? Good teams take advantage of their opportunities and they’re getting outstanding goalending, which was something that they did not get for the first two weeks or so of the season. And I think um you have to good teams and great teams, they have different ways that they can win, right? If you want to get into a track meet and play, you know, six to five hockey, we can do that, right? Uh you you you think the you know, Colorado Avalanche, like they they can put up points, right? We we we you saw this weekend against, you know, the Edmonton Oilers, that team, you know, the the ABS embarrassed that team, right? or when it gets to playoff hockey, right, and we got to win a game three to two and we have to, you know, there’s no space on the ice and we have to take advantage of our the few opportunities we can. We’ve seen the, you know, teams like the Avalanche do that as well. And I think that’s the big thing for the Sharks is learning how to win different ways and learning how to hang on to a lead for, you know, five, 10 minutes in the third period. Um, like you don’t want to live in worlds like that all the time where you have to have Ascrov bail or Nadulkovich bail you out all the time, but knowing that you’re going to be able to uh potentially get that, that’s this is a big reason why I said I think the Sharks are going to win more games this year is because of the goalending I think is improved and because of players like Melbrini, right? Just dragging and kicking you uh two more wins because they’re just that good. So, uh, big week for the the Sharks and and as they maturity and as they learn to win these games and being able to win some of these these close games, games that we saw them lose a million times last year. So, I think this is the biggest thing that we learned is the Sharks team starting to learn how to win these games, um, especially against very quality opponents. So, uh, we’re going to talk about the goalending here and how it’s turned into an asset over the past couple weeks. Uh, so we’ll get to that here in just one second. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or just want to ride a hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payoff. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel’s giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Head to FanDuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, before we continue, do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen. If you haven’t yet, perfect time to subscribe as we’ll have coverage after every Sharks games. Uh we’ll have dig into the Barracuda here soon. We also have an interview as well coming up. Uh so make sure you guys are following along with every you get podcast and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. So I think the other thing that we learned is this goalending duo of Nadulkovich and Ascarov can be extremely good. Uh, and I think that’s a a big reason why the Sharks have turned things around this past couple weeks is um Ascro and Delkovich went from, you know, um the issues that they had early on in the season to being legitimate assets for this Sharks team. Um, and during this sixgame point streak now, um, both Asgrav and Adelkovich have been going like, you know, blowfor-blow trying to compete with each other, um, in their performances. Um in the so in these six games both goalies have played three games. Um Asgrov’s won all three of his. Nadelovich has gone 20 and one with the shootout loss to the Red Wings during that time. But um during the these performances um Nadelovich 1.62 goals against average in these last three games with a 948 save percentage um and two penalty meds which I love. uh Ascarov in his three game 1.32 goals against average with the 963 save percentage uh during that time as well. Both of these goalies now despite having horrible starts to their seasons uh on according to Money Puck uh both of these goalies now have positive uh goals saved above expected. Um so that’s right just a quick kind of thing with that. Basically, if you had an average goalender in there um making every stop that they should make, how many goals would you save above expected is how it this is kind of um Ascrov in his nine games is now at 1.7 and Nelkovich is at point4 uh goal save above expected. Uh Nadulkovich last year ended the season at minus one but playing about 32 I think it was it was over 30 games with the uh Pittsburgh Penguins behind that horrible horrible uh Penguins defense and Ashro you know this season is you know at 1.7 basically he’s saved two goals more than expected uh through nine games of of his NHL season this year. So um again playing at 963 and 948 save percentages probably not sustainable. So this is most likely right a positive regression from what we saw earlier in the season. But uh you know I I do expect this to kind of settle in at somewhere around that 900 mark. Right? That’s kind of was one of my goals for this team was can you play get 900 a 900 save percentage goalie this year. Um, but I I do think both these guys now playing like this has to give Ryan Worovski confidence that um even when you have games like the Panthers game, right, where you are just hemmed in your zone and you’re getting shelled, um, both these guys, either one of these guys at any given night can steal you a win, right? And that’s what that’s what good teams do is games. You’re not going to have your agame every night. How else can you find a win? And sometimes you need your goalending to steal you a game. And Ascarov and Nadelkovic have stolen a couple games for the Sharks lately. Uh especially this weekend, right? that Panthers game uh where the Sharks probably had no business winning that game, but they found a way to win that game because of Ascrov’s heroics and they took advantage of the some of their opportunities. So, um again, I don’t like it’s not sustainable what they’re performing at now. But, right, the big goal for this season was can you just have average goalending? Can you have average goalending? And I think the Sharks are well on their way after a rough patch to start the season where again a lot of new pieces coming together. Uh so many new names on the blue line. Everyone trying to figure out where they fit in with the equation, who gets what ice time, right? And we still have a lot of that with, you know, trying to get Dickinson and Muk Mullan in the lineup and, you know, potentially Lety back here, etc., etc. Like the Sharks still have some of that, but you you kind of know like what Orla is supposed to do and Mukuma Madan is supposed to do and and Lil Jr. and you know like all these guys, they kind of know what they’re supposed to do right now. You’ve had guys like Deese really step up um and play really solid in their role. Um but I do think Ascarov is showing signs of being a special goalender. Um, and I know, you know, we talked about it after the game against the Panthers of like, you know, a lot of people owe Ascarov an apology. And I know, you know, again, like I’m not defending Ascarov played poorly, like as to start the season, but I’ve seen I’ve watched too much of Ascarov. I’ve watched him play uh lights out hockey too many times to believe that uh he didn’t have this in him. like he he’s he is well on his way to being I think a a a top-notch goalie in the in the league and and if Nadelovic who I I I still believe the Sharks should try to extend at some point here u because I don’t want to play the goalie carousel game next year. Um if you this can be your tandem for the next couple seasons here. uh like I I think you could be doing a lot you could be doing way worse and I think there’s a lot of teams who would uh be envious of of the Sharks goending situation here uh sooner rather than later, right? You look at a team like Edmonton who’s uh cannot get a save uh to save their lives right now. And u you know I mean we saw what Colorado did last year and you know in a two week span to to flip out their goalending. Like I think the Sharks are going to have a a goalending duo here sooner rather than later that a lot of teams in the NHL are going to look across and be like hish we had something like that, right? uh where you you do have a top tier prospect in and you know in Ascrov a guy who you know was the 11th pick overall pick in the draft like that’s that’s a big investment the Sharks made a big investment in getting him but um I think Nadelkovich who was freely available right the Sharks traded a third round pick and a guy who bounced around the last couple seasons uh I think he has really kind of come in here and you know just kind of settled things down solidified it and no like I’ve said no matter if Ascarov’s out or Nadelkovich is out. You as a Sharks fan feel confident that you’re going to get quality goalending from from either one. And this week you have the Wild and you have the Flames. Two team like the Flames are on backto back shutouts over the weekend and and the Wild are a team that has been weird, right? We we saw what happened when these two teams played a couple weeks a Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago. um like the the team that has struggled to score consistently. I I don’t see why the goalending can’t continue to play uh again maybe not 960 950 levels but this should still continue to be a a above average goalending duo for the Sharks and uh again be a major asset even if the the pieces in front of them uh continue to kind of me you know continue to move or they’re still trying to figure out how to get guys in on a nightly basis. Um, I still believe in in these two goalies. Uh, this if this is the the most confidence I’ve had the Sharks goalending in in quite a while to be honest, like with both both guys, right? Um, of course, Blackwood was was outstanding and James Rymer had his nights as well. Um, but it’s been a long time when you felt good about whoever’s starting and that’s where I think we’re we’re we’re quickly heading to with with the Sharks goalending uh duo. So, um, we’re going to talk about the other big thing we learned is uh, the Sharks now have some time to make some decisions on their roster composition. So, uh, we’ll get to that here in just one second. When I’m hydrated, everything just works better. My focus, my energy, my mood, even my skin. That’s why I’ve been using Drip Drop. It’s a doctor developed hydration that keeps me running at full power, no matter what my day looks like. Drip Drop isn’t your average sports drink. It delivers three times the electrolytes and half the sugar of leading brands using a sciencebackedback formula trusted by medical professionals, firefighters, and over 90% of top college and pro teams. Uh, drip drop. It tastes great. Uh, my go-to flavor, I like uh the fruit punch and I like the cherry ones. Uh, those are my two favorites so far. It’s become my secret weapon for staying sharp and energized through long days. Hydration has become a non-negotiable for me. Drip Drop helps me feel sharper, calmer, and honestly just feeling better overall. And right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Just go to dripdrop.com and use promo code locked on NHL. That’s dripdrop.com. Promo code locked on NHL for 20% off. Stock up now before the heat hits hard and keep your body and mind performing at their best with Drip Drop. All right, before we finish up, do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen. If you haven’t yet, uh you got to go check out the locked on NHL game night. They cover every game, every night until a Stanley Cup champion is crowned. You get local analysis on a national scale. Find NHL game night unlocked onHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. Uh yeah, NHL game night a great especially on busy like Saturday night where you had like a bajillion games going on. Great way to kind of just get a nice reaction of what’s going on around the league. So uh go check that out when you’re done with this episode. But um the other big thing is now the Sharks have some time, right? Um in in their decision making and as they try to kind of manage contracts and this roster crunch and what they need to do, they’ve been able to successfully kick the can down the road uh even further now. So uh we’ll start with the Michael Misa piece, right? Michael Misa is out week to week. We know he’s wearing a boot. Um, don’t know what the injury is, right? If it’s like a hairline fracture, if he broke his foot, if he tweaked an ankle, don’t know. It could be a a wide variety of things. But assuming it’s week to week, I’m going to probably say knowing from what we’ve heard from Ryan Wars, we’re probably looking at like a month to be honest, right? with with Michael Misa if it’s week to week. So they’re probably not going to even start to hear about Misa until be mid December would be my guess. So then the Sharks have some options, right? is they can now utilize the um like having Michael Misa go play in the AHL uh to you know on on a uh as a you know a recovery stint here is as you know he gets back into the NHL just as a quick reminder uh you get five games or two weeks of that right and then what comes up right after Christmas um if you’re a hockey fan right Uh, you know, that would be one the world juniors. Michael Misa eligible for the world juniors. So, you wonder if the Sharks could again, they don’t have to, but they could use the AHL time, let him get, you know, kind of get back up to speed again, and then potentially loan Michael Misa to the World Juniors to go play in that tournament uh for Team Canada where he would easily be the the first line center uh on that team. And like especially now that we expect Sam Dickinson to not go uh Dick, you know, Misa would probably be the biggest name, you know, I guess McKenna too, but like Misa would be among the biggest names for team Canada and then he could come back from that and then you can kind of just drop him in for the rest of the season as like kind of a full-time here you go kid like let’s see what you got the second half of the year just like we saw with Will Smith last year, right? where it was um Will Smith started playing more after uh you know kind of that middle of January uh type of scenario where you’re like here you go you’ve got you know six weeks or so until uh the Olympic break. So let’s see what you got. You get a nice little break for the Olympic break uh and then come back and finish the season strong, right? And build going into the 26 27 season where we want you to be our 2C of the future, right? like that that’s going to be your job next year is the 2C. You wonder maybe the Sharks take this approach especially with the way that they’re playing right now if with like when with that Wenberg line being so effective. Um and again like we we still expect the Sharks to eventually burn the first year of Michael Misa’s contract, right? Or not burn but sign let him play his full nine games um and therefore kicking in. But remember, when he does that, you still like the Sharks still have to move a contract. And that gives San Jose the longest possible time to do so of okay, you know, that that basically gives them till the middle of January to have to decide on who to trade. Um, and the Sharks did also, you know, they sent Iorio down to the AHL for a conditioning stint here. Um, just as a quick reminder with those rules, when you are on a conditioning stint, your contract and salary still stay in the NHL. Um, so the Sharks like they can’t replace Iorio uh with the Barracuda, like with a player from the Barracuda right now. Um, but it does give Ioro a chance to kind of get some games in here and stuff. So, um, we’ll see. Like, we’ll see what the Sharks do there. I still think they have to move a defenseman here, especially with now Sam Dickinson here, you know, all season long. You got to move a defenseman because you you can’t have nine defenseman on your roster and whatever. You know, at some point Nick Ley is going to be coming back, right? Uh, like that’s the assumption. At some point, he’s coming back. But, um, you got to figure out something uh with the defense. But this does give them some time, like plenty of time. Now, uh, you know, what was maybe thought to be like kind of a weak type of scenario, uh, when you hear week to week from Ryan Warovski, that makes me think this is this is going to be a little bit until uh, Michael Misa gets back. So, um, yeah, and you know, the Sharks are are starting to get a little bit healthier here, uh, you know, with with Equin potentially expected to come back. I know me or to fully miss practice um as well on th on Monday. Uh I’m trying to see if if there’s any followup to that right now as I’m doing this. But um even if Tofoy like he was at the the Niners game the other day. Maybe it’s one of those things where um okay actually here we have it. So Tofo has an upper body issue should play tomorrow. Ekwin will travel see how he goes through morning’s skate where obviously said to has been doing this issue for the last five days to ekin sounds like he’s ready to play. Uh lety has been officially activated off of IR. So there we go. Um perhap So yeah, the Sharks will have to if Equin does come back, the Sharks are going to have to make another move um there as well. So um yes. So, and with Ekkan practicing with with Wenberg and Kersev, it’s looks like he’s going to be ready to go. And I would assume, yeah, Tofali, yeah, I assume Tofali is going to be okay for uh for the Sharks on to play with Celebr. But um a little tough there for Cardwell who’s been playing really well. Uh but the Sharks again, they got to move it. They have just they have too many defenseman. They have too many defensemen on this team. uh especially if you want to get Mukadulan and Dickinson who I think Mukadan has been playing extremely well uh needs to be an everyday player and Dickinson who needs to start continuing to ramp up with his uh playing. Uh you need to get those guys in uh more often than not. So uh yeah, you got to move a defenseman here soon. So but they do have time before Misa’s contract kicks in. So um but that’s going to be it for me today. We’ll be back tomorrow as we break down the Sharks wild game. Of course, we’ll have a preview going up uh on uh Tuesday early afternoonish on YouTube. It’s about 10 minutes long. We’ll talk about the Wild, we’ll talk about the Sharks, we’ll talk about uh the matchup and the lines, etc., etc. So, make sure you’re following along wherever you get podcast. And of course, you can watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Tik Tok at Locked OnSharks. Uh follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. Until tomorrow. Bye friends.

San Jose Sharks build momentum with a six-game point streak as goaltending transforms from weakness to major strength. Can Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith carry this young squad to sustained success, or will puck luck run out?

JD Young explores the Sharks’ newfound ability to win close, low-scoring battles, spotlighting standout performances from Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic between the pipes. Key topics include the Sharks’ defensive resurgence, shifting lineup dynamics with Michael Misa’s injury, critical decisions looming over the crowded blue line, and deployment of prospects like Sam Dickinson. Insightful analysis tackles San Jose’s playoff hopes, the impact of timely scoring, and the long-term outlook for a roster loaded with rising stars.

Will the Sharks continue to grind out victories and surprise the NHL? Tune in for expert takes and all the latest updates.

Timestamps:
00:00 Sharks Weekly Growth Recap
03:47 Sharks Learning to Close Games
08:13 Sharks’ Path to Winning Ways
10:13 Sharks’ Goalie Duo Shines
13:37 Sharks Seek Consistent Goaltending
16:39 Sharks’ Promising Goaltending Future
22:49 Misa’s Path: AHL to World Juniors
27:49 Sharks’ Roster Moves & Defensemen

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