Preview/Lines #39: Askarov Most Wins for Sharks Goalie in 4 Years, Liljegren & Desharnais Update, Chernyshov on 1st NHL Goal
The San Jose Sharks are giving Yaroslav Askarov a chance to be their No. 1 goalie.
Veteran Alex Nedeljkovic, better during training camp, was tapped to be the San Jose Sharks’ opening night starter. The first eight games of the season, Nedeljkovic and Askarov alternated starts.
Since then, Askarov has gotten the call, including Monday night against the Anaheim Ducks, 21 of San Jose’s last 31 games. And he would’ve started more, if he hadn’t got sick during the Sharks’ recent five-game road trip, when he missed three consecutive contests.
The 23-year-old rookie netminder has rewarded San Jose with one of the best months of goaltending in franchise history, an 8-2-0 record and .944 Save % in November. And while December hasn’t been as kind — Askarov has an .870 Save % in December — he’s also gutted out four wins for a 4-4-0 mark.
In all, Askarov has a 13-10-1 record with an .898 Save %. And even with his up-and-down campaign, per Evolving Hockey, Askarov’s +8.1 Goals Saved Above Expected rates as above-average league, 31st of 81 goalies.
Askarov has shown his best, plus he’s learning how to win at the NHL level, so it’s been a thoroughly successful year, so far, for the future of the franchise between the pipes.
If you can believe it, Askarov is the first San Jose Sharks goalie since James Reimer notched 19 in 2021-22 to record more than 12 wins in a season.
Next stop, 20!
The last Sharks goalie with that many victories in a year was Martin Jones’s 36 in 2018-19, also the last time that San Jose qualified for the playoffs.
San Jose Sharks (18-17-3)
Askarov will start and the Sharks will roll with the same line-up that beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Saturday night:
Eklund-Celebrini-Chernyshov
Graf-Wennberg-Toffoli
Skinner-Dellandrea-Gaudette
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Reaves
Orlov-Klingberg
Ferraro-Mukhamadullin
Dickinson-Iorio
Askarov
The San Jose Sharks will also deploy the same power play units.
PP1: Klingberg-Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli-Wennberg
PP2: Orlov-Skinner-Gaudette-Graf-Chernyshov
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky told San Jose Hockey Now that defenseman Timothy Liljegren (upper-body) is expected to practice tomorrow back in San Jose.
The news, however, isn’t so good for defenseman Vincent Desharnais (upper-body). Hope was that Desharnais would be able to re-join practice right after the holiday break, but Warsofsky still considers the hulking blueliner still week-to-week. Warsofsky will have more of an update after tomorrow.
No update on Will Smith (upper-body), who has previously been ruled out of the line-up until New Year’s. A new update should be provided then.
None of these injured players traveled with the team.
Anaheim Ducks (21-15-2)
Per NHL.com, here’s how the Ducks are projected to line up:
Chris Kreider — Leo Carlsson — Mikael Granlund
Cutter Gauthier — Mason McTavish — Beckett Sennecke
Nikita Nesterenko — Ryan Poehling — Troy Terry
Ross Johnston — Jansen Harkins — Alex Killorn
Jackson LaCombe — Drew Helleson
Olen Zellweger — Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov — Ian Moore
Lukas Dostal
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks is at 7 PM PT at Honda Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
