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The San Jose Sharks admittedly are in the early stage of their rebuild and quite a ways removed from re-creating their days as a Stanley Cup contender.

The Sharks, however, will look to create a good memory in honor of that time when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Before the game, the Sharks will retire Joe Thornton’s No. 19 jersey. San Jose was a perennial playoff team during his 15 seasons with the team from 2005-06 through 2019-20, only twice missing the postseason.

These days, however, the Sharks are building for the future, led by forwards Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, Will Smith (No. 4 overall in 2023), and William Eklund (No. 7 in 2021).

After opening the season on a nine-game losing streak (0-7-2), San Jose turned a corner by winning five of its next seven contests. And although the Sharks have dropped five of their last six games (1-2-3), they’ve shown some resolve in that stretch.

Most recently, Alex Wennberg scored with nine seconds left in regulation in a 3-2 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

“It shows character,” Wennberg said. “We never back down. We just keep going, keep going at it.”

Of the Sharks’ five losses in their recent stretch, only one defeat has been by more than a goal.

“There’s obviously some areas in our game that need to continue to improve, but I give a lot of credit to the group to stick together,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We’ve been through a lot the first 22 games, even this last 2 1/2 weeks with the travel, time change, the difference, we haven’t practiced much. So you can kind of see the execution was a little bit lower the last couple of games.”

Eklund is enjoying a solid start to his second full NHL season and his third campaign in North America. The 22-year-old Swede, who had 45 points (16 goals, 29 assists) last season, has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 21 games in 2024-25.

The Sabres, meanwhile, arrive in Northern California looking to sweep their three-game trip through the Golden State.

Buffalo is coming off a 3-2 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, a contest in which it overcame a two-goal deficit by scoring twice in 50 seconds. The Sabres opened the trip with a 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.

“I think that’s been our motto the whole season, can’t get down when they score a couple of goals, and we did that,” Buffalo center Peyton Krebs said. “We stuck with it and got rewarded.”

The victory pushed the Sabres above the NHL’s version of .500 for the first time this season.

“There’s been a couple of chances we’ve had to do it and haven’t been able to, so hopefully now that we’re over it, we’re able to continue to get those wins and build on it,” defenseman Owen Power said.

Jason Zucker has been a solid free-agent addition for Buffalo. The veteran winger, who has a goal in consecutive games, is sixth on the team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists).

–Field Level Media