SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are understandably excited about the way forwards Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund are playing right now.

Eklund is enjoying the fastest start to a season of his relatively brief NHL career, and Celebrini is starting to establish himself as one of the league’s premier players. Both will be pillars of the Sharks franchise for years to come and are carrying lengthy point streaks into Thursday’s home game against the New Jersey Devils.

The Sharks, in time, would love to see goalie Yaroslav Askarov start to show that same kind of consistency. But he’s not there yet, as Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings painfully demonstrated.

Playing in just his 22nd NHL game, Askarov saw 14 shots and made just 10 saves in what turned into a frustrating 4-3 Sharks loss to the Kings before an announced crowd of 12,804 at SAP Center.

The Sharks outshot the Kings 40-14, including 33-8 over the final two periods. But Askarov was beaten clean above his left shoulder on goals by Jeff Malott and Drew Doughty in the second period and saw the game-winning goal by Brandt Clarke with 6:40 left in the third period zip by his glove from 35 feet away.

Askarov, 23, was making his third straight start after a terrific 26-save performance in a 3-1 Sharks loss to the Devils last Friday. He made 28 more saves, including some key ones late in the third period and overtime, in a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

But progression in the NHL is not linear, and development is not always smooth. The goal for Askarov this season might be to get to a point where everyone knows what to expect from him on a nightly basis.

“That’s what happens with young players in this league,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “There’s the grind of the schedule, coming back home, day off, right back at it tonight. So (Askarov) is learning as we go here, and he will be better for it, and he’ll get better from it.

“This isn’t the first goaltender that’s gone through this type of up and down to start their careers. That’s usually what happens for most players.”