Sharks 2026-27 Game 7 Recap: Sharks 3, Predators 2 (SO) (10/15/26)

 Despite it being mostly a goaltending duel and allowing the Predators to tie at the last second of regulation, the Sharks get the job done in the shootout in a 3-2 victory to begin their six-game road trip. 

This game begins with some fireworks, specifically a fight between Zack Ostapchuk and Nic Hague. A few minutes later, Mason Marchment scored his second goal of the season to put the Sharks on the board first, assisted by Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg. Fast forward to the third period, where the Sharks extended their lead to two on Will Smith’s third goal of the season, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Igor Chernyshov. A bit later in the final frame, a power play goal by Ryan O’Reilly put the Predators on the board and within one. With 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation, a miraculous goal by Steven Stamkos on a broken play ties the game at two to force overtime and a shootout. Fortunately, the Sharks find another way to win after getting to extra time, with Macklin Celebrini scoring on his shootout attempt sealing the victory for Team Teal in the Music City. 

Alex Nedeljkovic made his second start of the season in net for the Sharks and remained excellent, recording 32 saves on 34 shots against. In addition, the only other lineup change made to the Sharks for this first of six consecutive road games was Nolan Allan drawing back onto the blue line, this time in place of Darnell Nurse, who got injured during a fight in Tuesday’s loss at home to the Bruins. 

Overall, the Sharks performed amazingly in this contest in Nashville for the most part, and it was great for them to bounce back from their last two home games and start their current lengthy road trip the right way. Team Teal was extremely close to earning its first regulation win of the season tonight, but thankfully they were still able to come out on top of this one in the skills competition. In addition, Alex Nedeljkovic should be starting more games for the Sharks going forward. The Sharks will have an even better opportunity to get their first regulation win of the season when they travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings in their next game on Saturday at 4 pm PT. 

Sources: Sharks Audio Network, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X 

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Sharks 2026-27 Game 6 Recap: Bruins 6, Sharks 3 (10/13/26)

 Team Teal dropped its second straight game by a score of 6-3 to the Boston Bruins to close out the NHL's first Frozen Frenzy of the season. 

Earlier in the first period, the Bruins appeared to have scored first, but it was waved off immediately due to clear-cut goalie interference by Marat Khusnutdinov. Later in the opening period, the Bruins scored the official first goal of the game via Fraser Minten. Soon after, the Sharks evened the game at one on a blast from the point by Jacob Trouba for his first goal as a Shark, assisted by Kiefer Sherwood and Dmitry Orlov. With just over a minute remaining in the first period, the Bruins went back ahead on a goal from Charlie McAvoy. Early in the second period, Macklin Celebrini found Ivar Stenberg at the doorstep to score his first NHL goal to tie things up at two. Dmitry Orlov collected his second assist of the night on this equalizer. Moments later, a defensive breakdown by the Sharks led to Matthew Poitras scoring to reclaim the lead for Boston. With three seconds left in the middle frame, the Bruins extended their lead to two on an odd-man rush goal scored by Pavel Zacha. 

Early in the third period, Macklin Celebrini scored a power play goal for his second of the season to put the Sharks back within one, assisted by Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith. Soon after, Darnell Nurse fought Nikita Zadorov, resulting in Nurse getting the short end of that tilt and heading to the dressing room. Later in the third period, Fraser Minten scored his second goal of the night to restore the Bruins' two-goal lead. Lastly, with under two minutes remaining in regulation, Will Borgen buries one into the empty net to make it 6-3 Boston. Yaroslav Askarov finished his night with 20 saves on 25 shots against. 

The Sharks debuted new forward lines for this game, and they seem to be performing better and developing more chemistry than the forward lines they rolled out for the first five games of the season. However, there were times throughout this game in which the Sharks were outplayed by the Bruins, and defensive miscues by the Sharks led to them giving up costly goals. On a more positive note, several Sharks players had great performances against the Bruins tonight, including Macklin Celebrini, Ivar Stenberg, Jacob Trouba, and Dmitry Orlov. The Sharks hit the road for their next six games, starting on Thursday in Nashville against the Predators at 5 pm PT. 

Sources: ESPN, NHL App 

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Sharks 2026-27 Game 5 Recap: Oilers 3, Sharks 1 (10/10/26)

 Team Teal’s offense did not have many answers for a red-hot Edmonton Oilers team in a 3-1 loss. 

The Oilers struck first late in the opening period on a slapshot goal from Mattias Ekholm. The Sharks performed better in the second period, highlighted by a huge body check laid by Jacob Trouba on Shakir Mukhamadullin and Macklin Celebrini ringing a shot off the left post near the end of the period to nearly tie the game. Edmonton resumed scoring early in the third period on goals from Vasily Podkolzin and Alex Formenton to extend its lead to three. Later in the third period, Macklin Celebrini scored his first goal of the season on a wonderful shot and sequence, assisted by Michael Misa, to cut the Sharks’ deficit to two. In the final few minutes of this contest, the Sharks were fortunately able to keep the puck out of their empty net in a wild sequence. 

Yaroslav Askarov returned to the Sharks crease at home against the Oilers, recording 17 saves on 20 shots against. In addition, Macklin Celebrini is back in the Sharks lineup today after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury. Adam Gaudette was activated from the injured reserve, but was a healthy scratch in this contest along with Ty Dellandrea and Nolan Allan. As a result, Brett Leason was placed on waivers, cleared waivers, and sent down to the Barracuda. 

The Sharks were unable to solve Tristan Jarry and the Oilers for the most part in the first match between these two division rivals this season. On a more positive note, it was great to see Macklin Celebrini return to the Sharks lineup and score his first goal of the season. San Jose hosts the Boston Bruins in its next game on Tuesday at 8 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports California, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X 

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I Attended a Resurrected Local Pro Hockey Team’s Season Opener

 The latest hockey game I attended as of Friday night did not involve the Sharks or any NHL-affiliated club, but rather my local pro team that made its return after a 17-year absence. The resurrected local team is known as the Falcons, and while they were formerly in the ECHL before disappearing for a bit, they are now in the FPHL, or Federal Prospects Hockey League. This particular game was their season opener against the Shock, and with it being a heavily anticipated event in my local area, it certainly made for a packed house and a lively arena atmosphere. 

Onto the game itself, where the Falcons defeated the Shock 7-2 in a lopsided barn-burner to begin their season. It was a goaltending duel for the first period, while the scoring barrage began in the second period. The Falcons scored five times in the middle frame and twice in the third period, while the Shock scored once in the second and once in the third. There were a few fights, hard hits, skirmishes, and injuries scattered throughout this contest as well. 

Other interesting aspects of this game include the decent amount of folks in attendance repping the Sharks, both past and present, along with cool ice projections featured before the start of the third period and running into a few friends while I was there. I also noticed that the digital scoreboard experienced glitching at times, and it seemingly took longer for the refs to sort out some stoppages compared to those in a typical NHL game. I will also try to better familiarize myself with the Falcons' players as I attend more of their games in the future. Overall, while it is not on the level of the Sharks or the NHL in general, the Falcons' season opener was definitely a fun experience, and I am looking forward to attending their next home game and at least a few more of their games later this season. Stay tuned to CPF Hockey for more of my personal hockey fan experience posts and San Jose Sharks updates. 

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