The Sharks’ fifth game of the 2025-26 campaign is the second Sharks game I have attended within a span of two weeks. I was looking forward to attending this one mainly so I could see my Sharks face Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in person for the first time. Before getting into the game itself, the theme surrounding this game was Los Tiburones, or in other words a celebration of Hispanic heritage. I received a local artist-designed Los Tiburones shirsey as part of an all-arena giveaway at this game. While it looked nice and was a worthy free collector's item, I opted not to wear it and purchased and wore a new Sharks Heritage 2.0 jersey with Macklin Celebrini on the back of it from the team store. Not only did I want to get my hands on the Sharks' newest jersey, but the one I purchased happened to be the last one available at the arena with Macklin Celebrini on the back and in my size.
Onto the game itself, not only was I thrilled to see Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang play in person for the first time, it was also my first time seeing Sharks rookies Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson play in person. This was Misa's second NHL game and Dickinson's fourth NHL game. The first goal of this contest was not scored until the middle of the second period, when none other than Sidney Crosby tipped in a shot from Kris Letang to get the Penguins on the board. Pittsburgh extended its lead to two in the middle of the third period via Anthony Mantha, while Evgeni Malkin put any and all of the Sharks' hopes of earning their first win of the season to bed with an empty-netter with just over 20 seconds remaining in this contest.
Alex Nedeljkovic put together his best performance as a Shark so far against his former team, recording 24 saves on 26 shots against. Despite the Sharks generating plenty of great scoring chances throughout the game, outshooting the Penguins 31-27, and improving their defense compared to their past few games, they had some terrible puck luck and were unable to solve Tristan Jarry, who earned a shutout in this one. It was genuinely amazing that neither the Sharks or Penguins had taken or drew any penalties until late in the third period. In addition, there were some boos whenever former Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, who is currently a Penguin, touched the puck throughout this game. During a stoppage in play early in the second period, S.J. Sharkie appeared near the section that I was seated in dressed as an SAP Center usher and holding a VIP seat upgrade sign just to set up a random Penguins fan and throw him out of the arena, which I found amusing.
Overall, although the Sharks could not score, I am glad I fully took advantage of possibly my only opportunity to see them face Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang in person. In addition, getting my hands on the Sharks' newest Heritage 2.0 jersey made attending this game absolutely worth it. The number of NHL teams I have now seen play in person has increased to 12, and the Sharks have fallen to 3-4-3 when I am at their games. Next up, the Sharks embark on their first major road trip of the season, starting on Tuesday in New York against the Islanders at 4 pm PT.
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