CALGARY — It felt like every time that Macklin Celebrini had the puck, Mikael Backlund was right there.
This was the case on Tuesday too, when the Minnesota Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek blanketed Celebrini.
That’s probably going to be the case for Celebrini for the rest of the season, especially on the road, when the home team gets last change, they’re going to match their best defensive center against the San Jose Sharks star.
So let’s talk about solutions, instead of focusing on the Sharks’ dismal effort in a 2-0 shutout loss to the Calgary Flames. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 34-of-35 shots, which was about the only thing going for San Jose tonight. They mustered just one shot in the first period, and only 16 for the entire game.
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky agreed: “[Askarov] was the only one that was ready to play.”
Warsofsky did make one line change in the middle of the game, which began to free up Celebrini.
William Eklund (72), who began the game with Alex Wennberg and Philipp Kurashev, goes end to end up the middle, attracting three Flames before tossing the puck to the open man, Celebrini (71). This leads to Celebrini’s best chance of the game.
Next shift, Eklund beats Backlund (11), the Flames’ F1, then skates up the gut of the Flames’ defense, dishing it to the once-again open Celebrini, who tries to hit Adam Gaudette (81) for the one-timer feed.
Celebrini, when he’s with Will Smith and Tyler Toffoli, is the unquestioned primary puck carrier. But skating with Eklund, the Sharks’ second-best transporter of the puck after Celebrini, allows the young centerman to play off the puck more frequently.
This keeps the Backlunds of the world off Celebrini’s case, at least temporarily.
The problem, however, is that after Celebrini and Eklund, the Sharks’ best transporter of the puck from blueline to blueline is probably Alex Wennberg. Offensively-gifted forwards like Toffoli, Smith, and Jeff Skinner, are much better in the offensive zone than lugging the puck up the ice.
That’s probably something for San Jose to address in the coming years, adding another skilled puck transporter or two to take the heat off of Celebrini and company. They don’t have enough right now.
We’ll see how Warsofsky shakes up the lines at practice in Seattle on Friday.
Tyler Toffoli
Toffoli, on San Jose Sharks’ effort tonight:
It was really frustrating. I don’t think we were ready to ready to play tonight. I think it was just overall frustrating. Obviously, they’re a hard-working team and they’re desperate, but I think what has made us successful this season is being desperate. So obviously, a little disappointed.
Toffoli, on if his upper-body injury, which caused him to miss practice recently, is affecting his play:
Nope, I’m all good.
Sam Dickinson
Dickinson, on the Blake Coleman goal:
Just miscommunication, an unfortunate bounce. I got to make a better play there. I’m caught standing still and get pickpocketed. Just got to be [harder on that] play. That’s all.
Philipp Kurashev
Kurashev, on the Coleman goal:
Just some miscommunication. Obviously, not a great play by us.
Kurashev, on tonight’s effort:
We know what it was. A lot of turnovers, and we weren’t taking care of the puck at all, and Asky did such a great job in net tonight. So yeah, that was not good by us. And next time, we have to help him more, because he kept us in all game.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky says the only player who showed up tonight was Askarov: “We were awful tonight.”
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 14, 2025
Warsofsky, on Yaroslav Askarov:
Yeah, he was unbelievable. That shouldn’t have been a 2-nothing game. That’s for sure. He was the only one that was ready to play.
Warsofsky says no update on Skinner. #SJSharks practice tomorrow afternoon in Seattle
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 14, 2025
See the full interview here
