The San Jose Sharks will hope to end their seven-game losing streak when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
The matchup presents the bottom-feeding Sharks with one of their best opportunities to secure a win as it marks the third of a six-game homestand, with a trio of tough teams to follow.
After starting the season on a nine-game losing skid, and now dropping seven straight, the lowly Sharks want a change of fortune in 2025.
“We gotta start winning some hockey games.” coach Ryan Warsofsky said when asked if he had any resolutions for his team in the new year, following a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. “There’s some positives (Saturday) that we can take from, but there’s a lot of things that we gotta continue to improve on. We gotta continue to get better each and every single day.”
Superstar rookie Macklin Celebrini scored the Sharks’ lone goal in the defeat.
The 2024 first overall selection has done his best to help drag his team out of the mud, collecting four goals and eight assists over the past nine games.
Despite being just 18 years old, Celebrini has taken on a critical role for the Sharks, playing more than 20 minutes in six of their past 10 games.
Tuesday’s New Year’s Eve clash represents the fourth of a six-game road swing for the Flyers, who aim to rebound after blowing a 4-2 lead en route to a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Matvei Michkov, Celebrini’s counterpart in the Rookie of the Year race, had a big bounce-back performance with a goal and an assist despite the loss.
Michkov entered Sunday’s contest with zero points over his previous seven games, leading to a third-period benching in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
“There is so many things that he’s going to experience as we start getting to January, into the grind of the dog days that he’s never seen before,” coach John Tortorella told reporters following Sunday’s defeat. “I thought Mich competed harder (Sunday). I thought there was a big difference in his game.”
The 20-year-old now has 29 points across 35 games, while Celebrini has tallied 27 points in 27 games in his rookie campaign.
Since trading away Mackenzie Blackwood earlier in the month, the Sharks have struggled with goaltending. San Jose has given up three or more goals in 11 consecutive games.
Offseason acquisition Yaroslav Askarov has given the Sharks some solid netminding when called upon, sporting a .915 save percentage to go along with a 2.62 goals-against average across five starts.
Just like the Sharks, the Flyers are leaking goals, allowing four or more tallies in six of their previous seven games.
Philadelphia is currently struggling to trust any of its goaltenders, with Samuel Ersson leading the team with an abysmal .880 save percentage and a 3.14 GAA.
The Flyers have won three of the previous four meetings with the Sharks (3-1-0), all of which were decided by a single goal.
–Field Level Media
