DENVER \u2014 \u201cRage, rage against the dying of the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll light the fire during break and then we\u2019ll come ready to rage in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poet Dylan Thomas and new San Jose Sharks winger Kiefer Sherwood are of the same mind.<\/p>\n
The Sharks lost 4-2 at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, and go into the Olympic break on a four-game swoon. They\u2019re now five points out of the last wild card berth in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not the defeat itself that was so disappointing \u2014 Colorado, after all, is the best team in the NHL \u2014 it\u2019s how San Jose lost.<\/p>\n
Through two periods, the Sharks were completely outclassed, outshot 31-13, down only 2-0 because of Yaroslav Askarov\u2019s heroics. It was JV versus varsity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a rut like we\u2019re in, you tend to really lean on not making a mistake to cost your team. And I think individuals didn\u2019t want to make a mistake,\u201d head coach Ryan Warsofsky said of San Jose\u2019s passive first two periods. \u201cNext thing you know, you\u2019re not making the right play.\u201d<\/p>\n
So now, instead of a triumphant road trip before the Olympic break to solidify their hold of a playoff berth, the Sharks are sputtering, 1-3-1 in their last five.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe break couldn\u2019t come at a better time for us,\u201d Warsofsky admitted.<\/p>\n
The question is, how will San Jose finish the season? They\u2019ve got 27 games to get themselves back into the playoff race, beginning on Feb. 26 against the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n
Will they \u201crage\u201d against their now-flickering playoff hopes? Or go gentle into that good night?<\/p>\n
This is a test for second-year bench boss Warsofsky, and he knows it.<\/p>\n
\u201cScreaming and yelling, sometimes works, sometimes it doesn\u2019t. Sometimes you got to hug them a little bit, show them some love. We\u2019re trying to find that balance [with] this group,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to myself to really find what makes this group tick. I got to do a job here, coming up in these last 27 games, to get our guys in the right mind-set for games.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means staying where your feet are, which the Sharks failed to do on this road trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to get back to just competing and playing, and stop worrying about the standings, stop scoreboard-watching. Just play. We just got to play,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cLet\u2019s just see where the chips lie at the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on improving the San Jose Sharks\u2019 power play:<\/p>\n
That will be a big project we look into on this break.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky, on Askarov\u2019s 38-save performance:<\/p>\n
Big growth moment. I think that\u2019s the big headline of this game is how much he grew\u2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a young player that\u2019s going through the first time of the National Hockey League, the grind of it, the mental grind of this schedule, and being the guy to be the guy every single night. You got to be mentally dialed in and focused.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Philipp Kurashev<\/p>\n
Kurashev, on what happened the first two periods to the San Jose Sharks:<\/p>\n
We weren\u2019t playing with too much confidence. Going into the third, we just wanted to go and play our game, play with confidence.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Yaroslav Askarov<\/p>\n
Askarov, on the San Jose Sharks\u2019 1-3-1 road trip:<\/p>\n
Probably we could be better on this trip, but overall, it\u2019s okay. We still have, how many, 27 games? Gonna get some good break, good rest, and be ready for rest of the season. This is our goal. Keep foot on the gas.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kiefer Sherwood<\/p>\n
Sherwood, on having the Olympic break here, instead of a game in a couple days:<\/p>\n
Our team needs a break. Obviously comes at a good time. I know that was my first game, so obviously, wish we had more. We\u2019ll light the fire during the break, and then we\u2019ll come ready to rage in the second half.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 \u201cRage, rage against the dying of the light.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll light the fire during break and then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[12301,58,5,6386,4,4525,748,519,168,5306,5305,1780,5787,1125],"class_list":{"0":"post-446723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-2025-26","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-kiefer-sherwood","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-philipp-kurashev","14":"tag-ryan-warsofsky","15":"tag-san-jose","16":"tag-san-jose-sharks","17":"tag-sanjose","18":"tag-sanjosesharks","19":"tag-sharks","20":"tag-sharks-locker-room","21":"tag-yaroslav-askarov"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116017217673448236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}