WASHINGTON -- The San Jose Sharks are learning to believe in themselves through each victory they earn.
Their confidence has been building for more than a month, but particularly through the three-game winning streak they carry into the next stop on a six-game road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, NBCSCA). A fourth straight victory would give San Jose (10-13-5) its longest run since winning its first four games of the 2021-22 season, when it was 32-37-13 and sixth in the Pacific Division.
"The way we play, that gives us a chance," Sharks forward Mikael Granlund said after a 2-1 overtime win against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. "We've been getting better as a team throughout this season. Beginning of the season, we were just behind in these games and right now we are playing way better. That gives us a chance, and that gives us the confidence. Not only the results but the way we play."
The rebuilding Sharks have been gradually finding their identity since struggling through the first four weeks of the season. They are 10-6-3 following a 0-7-2 start, including 4-1-0 in their past five games.
Prevailing against Capitals (17-6-2), who are tied with the New Jersey Devils atop the Eastern Conference with 36 points, provided another boost to their belief that they can compete with the NHL's best teams.
The Capitals entered Tuesday on a four-game winning streak and leading the League in averaging 4.21 goals per game, but the Sharks limited them one. San Jose escaped the first period ahead 1-0 despite being outshot 16-8, thanks mostly to goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, but got stronger as the game progressed.
After giving up the lead in the second, the Sharks controlled play and outshot the Capitals 13-4 in the third. They finally broke through for a second goal against goalie Logan Thompson 39 seconds into overtime with William Eklund scoring the winner on a power-play one-timer from the right circle.
"We have to believe that every night going into the game that we can win a game," Eklund said. "[Tuesday] we did, and we've got to take with us stuff we can do better and stuff we did good, keep going there."
Eklund, a 22-year-old forward, is part of the present and promising future with 18-year-old forward Macklin Celebrini and 19-year-old forward Will Smith. Like the Sharks as a team, Celebrini played better as the game went on Tuesday. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft created scoring chances for himself and teammates in the second and third periods, drawing the high-sticking double minor on Capitals forward Tom Wilson with 2:17 remaining in the third that led to Eklund's winning power-play goal.
After getting repairs on the bench for the cut on his face, Celebrini returned to assist on Eklund's game-winner to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, four assists) and give him 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 16 games this season. He's either scored or assisted on each of San Jose's past five game-winning goals, the second longest run by an 18-year-old in NHL history behind only Sidney Crosby, who factored in six straight for the Pittsburgh Penguins from March 12 to April 13, 2006.
"He's a threat on the ice pretty much every time he's out there," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "On an entry especially, he can make things happen. He's competitive. He gets into guys. Even on the penalty that he draws on Wilson, it's because he gets in there. He doesn't care that he's 6-foot-4. … He gets in there, puts his nose over it and he wants to win the puck battle. That's the ultra-competitiveness that he has, and we need to continue to bring as a group."
Warsofsky is also learning on the job in his first season as an NHL head coach after being an assistant with San Jose the previous two seasons. The youngest coach in the NHL at 37 years old is getting buy-in throughout the lineup, though, and getting results helps reinforce what he's teaching.
"Something we talked about after the second period is we're a good team," Warsofsky said. "When we play connected and we compete and we're executing our breakouts and we're playing within our structure, we're really good, and we have really good players individually in there. Sometimes your belief in yourself and in the group can change throughout the game and we've got to stick to it a little bit."
As Warsofsky noted, "it's not going to get any easier" for the Sharks despite winning the first two games of the trip. After visiting the Lightning on Thursday, they play the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 10 and the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 12.
But after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past five seasons, the Sharks can see the progress they are making and enjoying themselves along the way.
"I've said it from the start of the year, from training camp, it's a lot of fun coming into the rink," said forward Tyler Toffoli, a Stanley Cup winner with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014. "There's a lot of energy from top to bottom, however you want to look at it. Guys are having a lot of fun. And not saying that it's necessarily a good thing, but even when we're losing, we're having fun and working. Definitely positives, and it's good to be on a little streak right now."
