Yaroslav Askarov’s San Jose Sharks Debut Ends in a Shootout Defeat to the Blues

Your San Jose Sharks gave everything they had on the second half of a back-to-back in the Midwest, but they could not come up with both points. They fall 3-2 in the shootout to the St Louis Blues in Yaroslav Askarov's San Jose Sharks debut. He stopped 29 of 31 and was excellent in the defeat. He's going to make it a difficult situation with the crease because if he's going to play like that every game, he should be in the rotation over Vanecek.

The first goal of the game came eleven seconds into this one. It's not a great start to life in the NHL for Askarov. St Louis dumped the puck in, and Askarov tried to move the puck up the boards. It was turned over, and Nathan Walker could get loose in the slot and flick home a pass from Radek Faksa, who had stopped the clearing attempt.

Thankfully, we get the first of two goals from a Swedish centerman to tie the game up. On the powerplay, Mikael Granlund picked the puck up from Macklin Celebrini and drove behind the net. He followed the yellow brick road the Blues penalty killers gave him, eventually finding a passing lane to Alex Wennberg in front, and the Sharks got back on level terms thanks to their Swede.

In the second period, St Louis bagged another one. Robert Thomas entered the zone and found a passing lane to Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Joseph fired the puck at the front of the net, bouncing off of Jordan Kyrou in front of the Sharks net. It trickles through Askarov, and there's nothing the Sharks can do about that as the Blues get a bounce. Unfortunate, but the Sharks were not going to roll over.

With eight seconds left in the game, Celebrini threw the puck across to Granlund and the two star centers the Sharks have played catch at the point. Granlund eventually dished the puck over to Wennberg, and he let it fly. It went through all the traffic in front, beating Jordan Binnington and finding the twine behind him to get the Sharks back level. He's been a strong Shark and continues to show why they picked him up.

Jake Neighbours scored the only goal in the shootout, and the Sharks fell in Askarov's debut in teal. There's a lot to like with the Russian netminder, and the Sharks fall to 0-4 in the shootout. We'll have the conversation about Askarov in the coming days and months, but now the Sharks head home to the Tank and prepare for Joe Thornton's jersey retirement.