The Florida Panthers will play the San Jose Sharks tonight and will be trying to extend the longest winning streak against a single opponent in franchise history.
The Panthers have won their past eight games in San Jose — and 12 straight overall against the Sharks.
The last time the Panthers lost to the Sharks was Dec. 1, 2017 — a 2-1 loss in Sunrise after Chris Tierney beat Roberto Luongo at 7:13 of the third.
Last season, the Panthers outscored the Sharks 10-3 in their two victories.
Although the term ‘lowly’ has often preceded the Sharks’ name in recent years, they are on their way back to respectability and are currently on a roll.
After starting the season 0-4-2, the Sharks have gone 6-2-1 since and have won four of five after beating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Friday night.
Take San Jose lightly at your peril.
“We can beat any team in this league,” Vincent Desharnais told San Jose Hockey Now on Thursday.
“We know who we are, we’re not the old Sharks anymore.”
True, the Sharks have not seen playoff action since 2019.
They finished dead last in the NHL the past two seasons, and they are light years removed from their glory days with players like Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Patrick Marleau.
San Jose general manager Mike Grier, brother of former Dolphins’ GM Chris, arrived in 2022 and began the slow task of a rebuild.
Having the No. 1 draft pick in 2024 (Macklin Celebrini) and the No. 4 pick in 2023 (Will Smith) has helped.
These are the type of players to build a franchise around and they have not disappointed.
At 18, Celebrini scored 25 goals as a rookie last season and led the team in scoring with 53 points.
This year he is on fire, with nine goals and 23 points in his first 15 games after having a two-point night Friday against the Jets.
Celebrini enters Saturday leading the NHL in scoring with those 23 points.
The kid is electric.
Smith came to the Sharks out of Boston College. He had a respectable 45-point season last year and is on a pace to far exceed that this season.
After their decisive 6-1 defeat of the Kraken on Wednesday, San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky was asked about Celebrini’s talent for the umpteenth time.
The youngster had a goal and two assists in the game.
“He’s obviously special,’’ Warsofsky said. “We’ve talked about it since the day he got here, what he does, the way he competes. Yes, he gets on the scoresheet but it’s the other things to me that are so impressive. The way he competes on faceoffs, the way he competes defensively, the way he’s a 200-foot center is absolutely remarkable.”
Their offensive talent runs deep.
Tyler Toffoli scored a team-leading 30 goals last season.
They have solid veterans up front in William Eklund (who is injured), Jeff Skinner, and Alex Wennberg. Barclay Goodrow leads the depth players.
The defense is led by a trio of newly acquired veterans Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy (also injured) as well as holdover veteran Mario Ferraro.
The Sharks also have one of the league’s premier enforcers in Ryan Reaves, freshly returned from injury.
In goal, neither of the tandem of new acquisition Alex Nedeljkovic and AHL chattel Yaroslav Askarov show good numbers this season but that has been skewed by the slow start.
In the team’s latest 4-0-1 stretch, the Sharks have allowed nine goals.
The Panthers had Friday off following Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Florida is 1-1 on this four-game road trip which wraps up Monday in Las Vegas.
ON DECK: GAME No. 15
FLORIDA PANTHERS @ SAN JOSE SHARKS
