Mukhamadullin has life-changing day, then enjoys his season’s biggest moment
SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin enjoyed one of the biggest moments of his life earlier this week as he and his wife welcomed their first baby into the world.
Then Mukhamadullin enjoyed what was perhaps the biggest moment of his season — professionally, at least.
Mukhamadullin scored a go-ahead goal at the 9:27 mark of the third period to help lift the Sharks to a badly needed and entertaining 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday before a sold-out crowd of 17,435 at SAP Center.
Trailing a rush up the ice, Mukhamadullin took a pass from William Eklund inside the blue line and fired a wrist shot past Oilers goalie Connor Ingram for his fourth goal this year.
“Just go into the zone, and (Eklund) gave it to me,” Mukhamadullin said. “I’m just shooting to hit the net, and I scored.”
The Sharks held on from there, killing a late hooking penalty to defenseman Vincent Desharnais, to snap a five-game losing streak and breathe some new life into their playoff hopes.
“His goal is huge for us as a team and for him, also,” Eklund said of Mukhamadullin’s long-range shot. “That was for his kid. So, it’s nice.”
Michael Misa, Macklin Celebrini, Alex Wennberg, and Barclay Goodrow also scored, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov finished with 20 saves as the Sharks improved to 1-1-0 on their crucial six-game homestand.
The Sharks (28-25-4) host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at 1 p.m., then finish what could be a make-or-break homestand with games against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues on Friday, and the New York Islanders next Saturday.
With Saturday’s win, the Sharks, at least temporarily, moved to within three points of the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. The Kraken hosted the Vancouver Canucks late Saturday night.
“That win won’t get us into the playoffs,” Celebrini said. “But hopefully, if we keep stacking it and keep playing well, I think we’ve got a good shot.”
Sharks owner Hasso Plattner attended Saturday’s game and visited the team in the locker room after the victory.
“It was huge,” Eklund said of winning in front of Plattner. “Make him see that we’re pushing for the playoffs.”
Mukhamadullin was a healthy scratch in the Sharks’ 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday and, through a mix of injuries and scratches, had played in just 26 of 56 games so far this season before Saturday.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said he wanted Mukhamadullin to play with more “urgency” on defense as they faced one of the NHL’s most offensively prolific teams in the Oilers, who entered Saturday third in the NHL with an average of 3.52 goals per game.
Mukhamadullin, playing alongside Mario Ferraro on the Sharks’ second defense pair, finished with 18:27 in ice time and also came up with a big first-period save, getting a skate on Jack Roslovic’s shot from close range with an empty net behind him.
“(Mukhamadullin) is learning how it’s not going to go perfect every night, and you’re going to make mistakes, and you’ve got to kind of move on mentally,” Warsofsky said. “(He) did a really good job of that all night.”
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, the NHL’s leading scorer, had three assists Saturday. But the Sharks didn’t just sit back and go into a shell after Mukhamadullin’s go-ahead goal.
Askarov came up big with four saves on the late penalty kill, but for over nine minutes after Mukhamadullin’s goal, the Sharks actually, despite some chaotic moments, outshot the Oilers 2-1.
In San Jose’s game in Alberta on Jan. 29, Askarov and the Sharks built a three-goal lead in the first period but sat back too much, allowing the Oilers to tie it and send it to overtime, where Zach Hyman scored to give Edmonton a 4-3 win.
The Sharks didn’t want to make that same mistake again.
“We don’t want to shut it down and just sit back and let them attack us,” Celebrini said. “I think that’s what we did when we lost in Edmonton, and I thought we did a good job just kind of playing on top of them. At the same time, we can’t give those easy chances right in front of our net.”
The Sharks led 3-2 after two periods, and are now 20-0-2 when they lead after 40 minutes.
“It’s something that we’re learning is when we have leads, we’ve got to stay on the attack and keep pushing forward,” Warsofsky said. “You watch around the league, it’s hard to win. It’s hard to keep leads because teams push so heavily. We’re learning that, and I thought it was a really good step in the right direction tonight.”
NOTABLE
With Mukhamadullin and winger Pavol Regenda entering Saturday’s lineup, defenseman Timothy Liljegren and winger Ryan Reaves were scratched. Liljegren made a costly error in the third period of Thursday’s loss to Calgary, turning over a puck that led to a third-period goal by Calgary in what became a 4-1 loss.
Saturday’s game marked the first meeting between McDavid and Celebrini since they were linemates for Canada at the Olympic Games. McDavid led the tournament with 13 points in six games, and Celebrini had 10 points, with his five goals leading all skaters.