Sharks takeaways: A rotten start, looming lineup changes, but also a show of faith

With his team now on a four-game losing streak to start the season, San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said to expect some lineup changes for his team’s game against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.

“We’ve got to review this game tonight here and meet in the morning and come up with a game plan,” Warsofsky said after the Sharks’ 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at United Center. “But we’ve got to do everything better tomorrow. That’s for sure.”

An inexplicably rotten start by the Sharks, especially after mostly positive efforts in their last two games, led to another October loss.

Against a relatively beatable Blackhawks team, San Jose sleepwalked through the first period, finished with seven minor penalties, and couldn’t get any momentum going until it was too late.

The Sharks’ top line of Mikael Granlund, William Eklund, and Tyler Toffoli combined for five points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an opening 21 minutes in which they allowed three goals, took three minor penalties, and had one or two breakdowns.

“We were playing too slow with the puck, skating-wise,” Granlund said of the Sharks’ start. “It’s tough to play when you’re just chasing the game the whole period. So, we got to be better at that, and that cost us a game tonight.”

Klim Kostin might be a candidate to come out of the lineup after he was dropped down a line in the third period when he had just four shifts and 2:39 of ice time. Danil Gushchin might be a candidate to draw in – after sitting for three games — and help an anemic power play, and we’ll see if the Sharks make a change on defense and insert Jack Thompson into the lineup.

Whatever happens, the Sharks will be looking to end an 0-11-3 losing streak in October games. Their last win in the month was a 4-3 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 27, 2022, at SAP Center.

“We’ll go back and look at all decisions we made today and find out why,” Warsofsky said when asked about Thursday’s slow start. “These types of things are going to happen. We’ve got to move forward. But it’s unacceptable.”

The Sharks are a better team than they were last season, but the proof standings-wise has to be in the pudding, and Warsofsky’s team has to get a handle on this before things spiral out of control.

After Friday’s tough test, the Sharks return home to face the underachieving Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, then start a four-game road trip through Anaheim, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Utah.

Who knows where this losing skid might end if the Sharks can’t be better against a 3-0-0 Jets team?

Takeaways from Thursday night:

MORE OFFENSE NEEDED: It wasn’t difficult to predict that the Sharks would have some struggles offensively without Macklin Celebrini in the lineup. The only question was, to what extent?

We have our answer: The Sharks have scored four goals, all at even strength and none on the power play, in the last three games without the play-driving Celebrini.

Granlund’s line has led the way as Toffoli has scored twice in the last three games, and Fabian Zetterlund and Ty Dellandrea have chipped in one each. Beyond that, it’s mostly been crickets, as no defenseman has had a point in the last 11 periods of play.

Part of Thursday’s problem was a lack of pace through most of the first two periods. With some abysmal passing, the Sharks could not create enough speed through the neutral zone. The Sharks also do not have enough team speed to back off defenders, allowing Chicago’s defensemen to gap up with support from the forwards at times.

BETTER NIGHT FROM SMITH: Two days after his most challenging night as a professional, Will Smith bounced back and had what Warsofsky said was his best night in a Sharks uniform.

Playing in front of about 50 friends and family members, Smith had a career-high 19 minutes of ice time as he centered a line with Luke Kunin and Barclay Goodrow. Per Natural Stat Trick, that line had a Corsi-for percentage of 80, with the trio combining for five shots on goal.

Smith’s ice time was just over 10 minutes on Tuesday in Dallas, leading to some speculation, including in this corner, about whether Smith might be best served by moving to the wing. But Warsofsky stuck to his guns and showed confidence in the 19-year-old.

The next step is to find the net. On a Sharks’ 2-on-1 in the first period, Smith tried a toe-drag around a defender but had the puck knocked away, and Kunin was stopped on a breakaway by Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek.

“Best game he’s played,” Warsofsky said of Smith. “Looked more comfortable, was more engaged, was skating more, playing with the puck more. I think it was definitely a step in the right direction.”

SPECIAL TEAMS WOES: The Sharks entered Thursday with the top-rated penalty-killing unit in the NHL. And all things considered, the unit held up pretty well again in Chicago, as the Sharks killed off two 5-on-3s and went 5-for-7 during the game.

Some breakdowns led to the power play goals by Nick Foligno and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Connor Bedard’s no-look pass on Nick Foligno’s goal was a thing of beauty. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/2qGFMwxs9j

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 18, 2024

On Foligno’s goal, Bedard took a stride toward the Sharks net but sent a perfect no-look seam pass to Teuvo Teravainen, who redirected it to the front of the net for the tap-in. Bertuzzi’s goal came similarly.

The Sharks can correct those problems, but the issue is the sheer number of penalties — 18 in four games. The majority of those infractions have been stick fouls, which are sometimes caused by players not moving their feet.

The Sharks simply aren’t a good enough team to spend that much time shorthanded.

“Another good power play tomorrow,” Warsofsky said of the Jets. “So you got to learn from it and move forward.”

GUTSY GAME: Eklund is dealing with an upper-body issue and was a game-time decision Thursday. He then played 19:02 and had two assists for his first multi-point game of the season.

“Not 100%, that’s for sure,” Eklund said. “But I’ll be there, and I’m trying to make plays out there and trying to get some goals out there.”