Another last-minute collapse with shades of opening night leads to a second consecutive OT loss to begin the Sharks’ 2025-26 campaign, this time 7-6 to the Anaheim Ducks.
Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring early in the first period on a great shot that went top corner for his first goal of the season. Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini both registered assists on the opening goal for their first points of the season. About two minutes later, Ryan Reaves scored his first goal as a Shark to extend San Jose’s lead to two, assisted by Adam Gaudette and Nick Leddy for their first points as Sharks as well. The Ducks responded seconds later via Cutter Gauthier to make it a one-goal game, followed by a power play goal by Beckett Sennecke a few minutes later to tie the game at two. Right after the faceoff following the equalizer by Sennecke, Ryan Reaves and Ross Johnston dropped the gloves and fought in a solid, well-balanced tilt, resulting in Reaves being one assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Early in the middle frame, the Sharks went back ahead on Mario Ferraro’s first goal of the season, with Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini collecting their second assists of the night on the go-ahead goal. Anaheim responded soon after via Alex Killorn on the breakaway to even things up at three. Later in the second period, the Sharks scored two power play goals via John Klingberg and Adam Gaudette for their first goals in teal to take a two-goal lead. Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini each registered their third assists of the night on the go-ahead goal by Klingberg, while Alex Wennberg and Dmitry Orlov assisted on the Gaudette goal. With about 30 seconds remaining in the second period, the Ducks made it a one-goal game once again on a power play goals via by Chris Kreider.
The Sharks restored their two-goal lead early in the third period on Jeff Skinner’s second goal of the season, assisted by Ty Dellandrea and Dmitry Orlov. About five minutes later, Cutter Gauthier scored his second goal of the game for the Ducks to make it 6-5. In the final minute of regulation, the same story from opening night against Vegas carried over to tonight, as a few missed opportunities to bury the empty net for the Sharks led to the Ducks tying the game on Chris Kreider’s second goal of the contest to force overtime. It didn’t take long in the bonus period for the Ducks to score via Leo Carlsson to complete their comeback and hand the Sharks their second straight OT loss.
Yaroslav Askarov made his first start of the new season, recording 36 saves on 43 shots against. In addition, Sam Dickinson made his NHL debut tonight as well.
Generating offense was certainly not an issue for Team Teal tonight, but like much of last season, finishing games still remains their biggest issue in their first two games of the new season. On a more positive note, the Sharks' newest veteran additions from this past offseason seem to be fitting in with the team pretty well so far. Like the season opener against the Golden Knights, tonight's game against the Ducks was a fun and entertaining one that the Sharks were in and had a great chance of winning until the very end. Hope the Sharks can turn their fortunes around in their next game on Tuesday, when they host the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports California, NHL App
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