SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks hope their days as being one of the NHL’s cellar-dwellers are now in the rear-view mirror.
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To have that happen, there’s no question that goalie Yaroslav Askarov will need to do his part.
Askarov, who projects to be the Sharks’ starting goalie for their regular season opener on Oct. 9, made his preseason debut for the Sharks on Friday night and made 27 saves in a 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at SAP Center.
Askarov allowed an even-strength goal to Golden Knights forward Cole Schwindt at the 8:15 mark of the second period and a power-play goal to Lukas Cormier at the 5:12 mark of the third, but was otherwise solid in his first official tune-up for the regular season.
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored the Sharks’ lone goal at the 4:48 mark of the second period, as his one-timer from the top of the circle beat Golden Knights goalie Akira Schmid high to the glove side. Alex Wennberg and Ethan Cardwell had the assists.
Cardwell almost scored near the end of the second period. Immediately after the Sharks killed his elbowing penalty, Barclay Goodrow came out of the box, retrieved a puck that had been cleared out of the San Jose zone, and found Cardwell, whose backhand shot from in close went off the post before Schmid covered the puck.
The final score could have been a lot worse without Askarov, as the Golden Knights, with 5:24 left in the third period, held a 29-11 advantage in shots on goal. The Sharks were also on the penalty kill five times.
The Sharks last season traded Vitek Vanecek to the Florida Panthers and, unsurprisingly, opted not to re-sign pending free agent Alexandar Georgiev. They acquired veteran goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from the Pittsburgh Penguins in July, but the opportunity is still there for Askarov to become the Sharks’ No. 1 goalie this year.
Askarov, now in the first season of a two-year, $4 million contract, showed he was ready for the NHL last season despite missing significant time with a lower-body injury.
In 22 regular-season games with the Barracuda, Askarov was 11-9-2 with a .923 save percentage. In six AHL playoff games, Askarov was 3-2 with a .935 save percentage and a shutout. He also played 13 games for the Sharks last season and went 4-6-2 with an .896 save percentage.
Asked last week what he worked on, Askarov said, “Pretty much everything. It’s a lot of stuff. You have to grow every day if you want to be, like life’s going on, life’s moving forward, you have to move forward too if you want to be play in the best league.”