Another late comeback by the Sharks makes it a close contest to force bonus hockey, but they fail to grab the extra point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Bryan Rust and Jesse Puljujarvi. The Pens’ second goal of this one was initially scored by Evgeni Malkin, but it was challenged by the Sharks coaching staff for offsides, resulting in another successfully overturned goal.
Mackenzie Blackwood replaced Vitek Vanecek in the Sharks net to begin the second period, as Vanecek exited the game with an undisclosed injury. Vanecek finished his night with eight saves on ten shots against in his one period of play. Pittsburgh extended its lead to three early in the middle frame via Sidney Crosby. The Pens were in complete control at this point and seemed as if they were on their way to a one-sided victory, but not so fast. Later in the second period, the Sharks began yet another resilient comeback, with Tyler Toffoli getting Team Teal on the board with his seventh goal of the season assisted by Will Smith.
San Jose added two more goals in the third period to tie it at three to force bonus hockey. The first of these two third-period goals came at around the seven-minute mark via Mikael Granlund’s eighth of the season, with assists from Fabian Zetterlund and Mikael Granlund. The equalizer was scored by Tyler Toffoli at close to the 12-minute mark for his eighth goal of the season and second goal of the game, with assists from Ty Dellandrea and Jake Walman.
This game eventually had to be determined in a skills competition, in which the Penguins took 3-2 and earned the additional point in the standings. Mikael Granlund and William Eklund scored in the shootout for the Sharks, while the Penguins won this contest on the stick of Evgeni Malkin in the fifth round of the shootout.
Mackenzie Blackwood recorded 25 saves on 26 shots against in relief for Vitek Vanecek. Blackwood’s best save of the night occurred with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation, in which he made a brilliant diving stop on a shot from Rickard Rakell. In addition, Nico Sturm is currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury, while Jake Walman returned to the Sharks lineup from injury and Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith were paired together on the second line tonight.
The Sharks had a great, competitive comeback effort against a struggling Pens team that earned them a point in the standings, but shootouts have not been kind to them this season. Although the sudden departure of Vitek Vanecek after the first period is concerning and his status is still unknown, this may open the door for Yaroslav Askarov to make his Sharks debut in the coming days, who has been fantastic for the Barracuda in the AHL so far this season. Team Teal returns home for their next game to host the Detroit Red Wings on Monday at 7:30 pm PT.
Sources: Sharks Audio Network, ESPN, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X
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