{"id":546246,"date":"2026-04-07T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546246\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:34:09","slug":"sharks-fully-bite-into-playoff-like-mentality-with-tough-win-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546246\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks fully bite into playoff-like mentality with tough win \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 For weeks, particularly after losses, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky has cautioned his players<\/a> about needing to bring a different level of play to the rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how the playoffs are going to be,\u201d Warsofsky said frequently.<\/p>\n

With the 2025-26 NHL regular season winding down, it seems as if the Sharks have bitten fully into what Warsofsky has been feeding them.<\/p>\n

Two days after a gut-wrenching loss to the Nashville Predators that threatened to derail San Jose\u2019s playoff hopes, the Sharks returned to SAP Center and beat a mediocre Chicago Blackhawks team 3-2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The score was a lot closer than the game actually was. After a somewhat slow start, San Jose got its offense rolling behind William Eklund and kept the fans at the Tank smiling and clapping all night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know much these points matter and how tight of a race it is,\u201d said Will Smith, who notched the 100th\u00a0point of his NHL career. \u201c(The vibe has) definitely picked up speed, and we know how important it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks had high expectations during the offseason, but most were in agreement that the team would need a year or two of development before being considered a true contender.<\/p>\n

With players like Smith, Eklund, star Macklin Celebrini and a solid goal-tending tandem of Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic, however, the timetable has been sped up.<\/p>\n

They obviously still need some seasoning, both as individuals and as a collective, but the heart within the locker room is beating as strong as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young core has kind of learned how to win these games,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cToday everything wasn\u2019t perfect, but we won a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, in essence, is all that matters, especially at this time of the season.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no value in style points. Just wins and losses. Celebrate the W\u2019s, and learn from the L\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve had a lot of growth in individuals and as a team,\u201d Warsofsky said after Monday\u2019s win. \u201cAn example tonight, I thought (Michael) Misa was really good. He was skating, he was on the puck. It comes and goes with inconsistencies with that individually, but from a group there\u2019s a lot of good communication and effort to play the right way. …<\/p>\n

\u201cThe details that we need to play with in certain situations, we\u2019ve seen some real growth for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 For weeks, particularly after losses, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky has cautioned his players about needing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,4,748,519,168,5306,5305,1780,507,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-546246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-ryan-warsofsky","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks","13":"tag-sanjose","14":"tag-sanjosesharks","15":"tag-sharks","16":"tag-will-smith","17":"tag-william-eklund"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116365575115502552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546246","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=546246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}