Comments / New

Quick bites: Righting the ship

Posted on by Erika Towne

All season long, the San Jose Sharks have worked to put the league on notice. While the team isn’t expected to win a ton of games this season, the goal was to be competitive and let every team know, playoff-bound or not, that you cannot afford to take a night off against the Sharks. Last night, that message was sent to the Winnipeg Jets.

While the 4-3 final score was not what the Sharks were looking for, the fact that the team stuck with one of the top teams in the league and did not allow itself to get overpowered by a more stacked Winnipeg offense says a lot about what the Sharks are trying to build.

“We’re changing the culture around here. So whether it’s this game, games to come this year or next year, we’re changing the culture,” said defenseman Jake Walman after the game. “We’re building something that’s a winning mentality, and it’s going to take everybody to do it, and we’re on the same page.”

While the players and the coaching staff acknowledge that this game was a step forward as they try to right the ship that capsized last season, there is still some work that needs to be done.

“I think we should have won … so I don’t think there was a moral victory,” said forward Tyler Toffoli when asked if there was a moral victory in how the Sharks played.

Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky also was not settling for the moral victories.

“I think we’ve got the respect from our opponent for sure … but at the end of the day, this is about wins and losses, and have we made strides since? You know, since training camp, for sure, but it’s still not where we want it to be,” said Warsofsky.

But teams are taking notice. Jets’ Head Coach Scott Arniel took note of the difference in his game preparations. Now, it’s about slowing down the Sharks.

“[They’re a] young, quick team, San Jose, and their transition game,” Arniel told William Espy after the game. “We really try to get away from letting them get into their rush game and we’re trying to clog up the middle as much as we could.”

While Jets’ center Adam Lowry called the Sharks “frustrating” at times.

Whether the Jets were having an off night or the Sharks are simply starting to play into the system designed for them is a bit of a toss up. However, the Corsi differential at 5-on-5 play last night shows that the Sharks were not only able to hang with one of the top teams in the league, but also, at times, take control of the game.

Vanecek’s status unknown

Let’s start out by saying that we hope Vitek Vanecek is okay. Vanecek was the backup netminder in last night’s game and was sitting in his normal spot near the hallway to the lockerroom when an errant puck flew in his direction.

The Hockey News’ Max Miller found the footage where it looks like the incident happened.

It seemed like a nothing play at the time, just as the second period had started. The puck seems to fly toward Vanecek’s head and he puts up his glove hand to try and protect his face. It apparently didn’t work because the training staff took Vanecek back to the lockerroom shortly after that and he did not return.

As the team entered the third period, the Sharks’ public relations crew put out that Vanecek was not available to return.

On a play like this, your mind jumps to concussion. Warsofsky didn’t have an update after the game so we’re hoping that it’s not that. The team practices later this morning, so, we’ll get an update then.

Georgiev working things out

This is not a game that you would hang on the goaltending, per se, but Alexandar Georgiev was honest with the media last night.

“They just managed to get a couple today. Feel like I could have played better on both of those,” said Georgiev.

The goaltender stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced last, allowing four goals. However, Natural Stat Trick reports that his expected goals against was 3.11, meaning he should have had at least one of those.

The goals came from all areas.

But notice for Georgiev, all but one came from up close. In fact, on the last goal of the game, there wasn’t much of a screen and it looked like Georgiev was just a little slow in the response.

Georgiev is trying to work things out and recently told The Hockey News’ Miller that goaltending coach Thomas Speer has helped him recognize some areas of his game he can work on. It will be interesting to see if and how Georgiev improves in the next month or two.

Bonus credit to Jan Rutta

Rutta was not the best player on the ice last night, but he was likely the meanest. The defenseman was seen battling it out in front of the net with Nino Niederreiter, visibly frustrating the forward.

Then, when Niederreiter and Macklin Celebrini were engaged in a little pushing and shoving and Josh Morrissey came over to give Celebrini a shove as well, Rutta was the first man in, happy to take on all of the Jets.

Rutta likely isn’t the guy that’s going to be with these kids when they eventually make it to the playoffs, but the lessons that they learn from him can be invaluable when that time comes.

Scoring summary Winnipeg Jets at San Jose Sharks Dec. 17, 2024

First Period
12:18 WPG Kyle Connor from Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi

Second Period
1:52 SJS Tyler Toffoli from Nikolai Kovalenko and Macklin Celebrini
7:28 WPG Mark Scheifele from Cole Perfetti and Gabriel Vilardi on the power play
17:11 SJS Mackin Celebrini from Jake Walman and Tyler Toffoli on the power play

Third Period
4:44 SJS Fabian Zetterlund from Jake Walman
11:56 WPG Kyle Connor from Gabriel Vilardi and Mark Scheifele on the power play
18:47 WPG Adam Lowry from Dylan DeMelo and Mason Appleton

fear the fin logoCLICK HERE  – SUBSCRIBE to our Newsletter!
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our GoFundMe or buying merchandise. Proceeds help us pay our writers and fund subscriptions to our favorite analytics sites.

Looking for an easy way to support FearTheFin?
Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!

LOGIN SIGN UP

Talking Points