San Jose Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov’s first game back after missing the last two-plus weeks with a lower-body injury didn’t last long.
Askarov was injured midway through the second period of Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, had to leave the ice, and didn’t return as the Sharks went on to a 2-1 overtime loss at Enterprise Center in the second stop of a three-game road trip.
Blues forward Dylan Holloway scored with 2.4 seconds left in overtime, as he picked up a loose puck to the left of the Sharks’ net, skated toward the crease in front of a trailing Macklin Celebrini, and beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovic with a backhand shot to send San Jose to its sixth straight loss (0-5-1).
Askarov was injured with under 11 minutes left in the second period. Blues defenseman Colton Parayko put a shot on the Sharks’ net, and forward Nathan Walker, who was standing just outside the crease, was pushed in the back by defenseman Vincent Desharnais into Askarov.
Walker made contact with the head of Askarov, who fell back into his own net and remained on the ice for several moments before he was escorted off the ice by Sharks trainer Will Leonard.
Nedeljkovic replaced Askarov, who had made 11 saves at that point, with 10:54 left in the second period in a scoreless game. Nedeljkovic finished with nine saves in just under 36 minutes of playing time.
Nedeljkovic made five saves for the rest of the second period, but the Sharks allowed a goal to Blues forward Dalibor Dvorsky at the 17:19 mark to fall behind 1-0.
The Sharks tied the game at the 5:04 mark of the third period, as Alex Wennberg took a pass from William Eklund and fired a shot past Blues goalie Joel Hofer for his 14th goal of the season. The goal snapped Hofer’s shutout streak at 166:49.
The Sharks finish their three-game road trip on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Askarov was making his first start since March 10 in over two weeks on Thursday as the Sharks desperately sought to end a five-game losing streak and rekindle their rapidly fading playoff hopes.
On March 10, Askarov stopped 20 of 25 shots in the Sharks’ 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Askarov suffered a lower-body injury in practice in Boston the following day and did not dress for the next six games before he backed up Nedeljkovic on Tuesday in the Sharks’ 6-3 loss to the Nashville Predators.
Before Thursday, Askarov started 40 of the Sharks’ 69 games this season, going 19-17-3 with a pedestrian .886 save percentage.
Since his injury, though, the Sharks have gone from being in the thick of the playoff race to 12th in the Western Conference, falling behind the Winnipeg Jets, Seattle Kraken, and Los Angeles Kings.
Having lost five straight games, the Sharks entered Thursday seven points back of the Predators for the second wild card spot in the West, with two games in hand. San Jose was also eight points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division, with three games in hand.
As of Thursday morning, the Sharks had a 9.3% chance of reaching the playoffs, per MoneyPuck.com, down from 55% on March 15.
Nedeljkovic carried most of the workload in Askarov’s absence, starting six of seven games.
After Tuesday’s loss, in which the Sharks were a mess defensively and allowed five first-period goals, the veteran Nedeljkovic expressed his frustration, saying, “We didn’t show up. We didn’t come ready to play, and that’s what happens. You can’t take a shift off, two shifts off, let alone a whole period in this league. Especially against a team that’s playing pretty well like them. For us, we’re fighting for points. We’re fighting for our lives right now. We didn’t show up.”
The Blues had been one of the NHL’s hottest teams in recent weeks, going 9-2-2 since the Olympic break and entering Thursday with 69 points, one point behind the Sharks.
The Blues were without leading scorer Robert Thomas, who was injured in St. Louis’ game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday when he was tackled to the ice by Pierre-Luc Dubois. Thomas, considered day-to-day, had two goals, including the overtime winner, in the Blues’ 3-2 win over the Sharks on March 6 at SAP Center.
The Sharks on Thursday did get back winger Tyler Toffoli, who had missed the last two games with a lower-body injury he sustained in the first period of San Jose’s home game against the Sabres on March 19. Toffoli was not with the Sharks in Nashville but joined the team in St. Louis.
Toffoli came into Thursday as the Sharks’ third leading scorer this season with 44 points in 67 games, with eight points in his last 12 games. The Sharks certainly needed the extra scoring punch after being held to two even-strength goals in their last three games, while allowing 27 goals during the five-game skid.
NOTABLE
Forward Philipp Kurashev and defenseman John Klingberg were the Sharks’ healthy scratches Thursday. Kurashev, a pending restricted free agent, has now been scratched in seven of the last 10 games, and Klingberg has been scratched in two of the last four games. … Sharks center Ty Dellandrea is on the road trip but remains out with a lower-body injury. He was injured in the Sharks’ Jan. 6 home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.