A hard-fought back-and-forth battle between these two California rivals resulted in the Sharks’ tenth win of the season, a 4-3 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
Prior to the start of this game, it was great that the Sharks honored Joe Thornton again in a ceremonial puck drop for their second alumni night of the season. The Sharks got on the board first rather quickly, with Adam Gaudette scoring his fifth goal of the season early in the opening period, assisted by Ty Dellandrea and Collin Graf. Late in the first period, the Kings tied the game at one on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Joel Armia, while the Sharks responded with just under ten seconds remaining in the first period on Ty Dellandrea’s second goal of the season, assisted by Collin Graf and Dmitry Orlov, to regain their one-goal lead.
Early in the second period, the Kings evened the game at two on another breakaway goal, this time from Anze Kopitar. LA almost went ahead soon after via Joel Armia, but the Sharks challenged it for offside and that goal was successfully overturned. Later in the second period, with just under three minutes remaining in the middle frame, the Sharks went back ahead on Philipp Kurashev’s sixth goal of the season, assisted by Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini. Fast forward to the third period, when Will Smith nearly scored a highlight-reel between-the-legs goal, but he was denied by Anton Forsberg in the process. With just under a minute remaining in regulation, Adrian Kempe scored to tie the game at three and force bonus hockey. This contest had to be decided in a shootout, where Philipp Kurashev scored on the first attempt in what would stand as the game-winning goal.
Yaroslav Askarov continues to stay hot and remain one of the driving forces in the Sharks finding ways to win, recording 31 saves on 34 shots against. In addition, John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren are back on the Sharks blue line tonight in place of Nick Leddy and Shakir Mukhamadullin.
This was another huge victory for the Sharks, especially over one of their biggest rivals in the Kings. Team Teal never relinquished in this one and continued to perform well at home this month. Unlike their previous victory over the Mammoth on Tuesday, the Sharks got some much-needed scoring and big performances from some of their depth forwards. Most notably, Ty Dellandrea recorded his first two-point performance as a Shark, and Collin Graf logged the first two-assist game of his NHL career. Philipp Kurashev also had a huge performance as well, scoring a go-ahead goal in regulation and the shootout winner. On top of that, the Sharks are now halfway to their win total from last season at around the quarter-mark of this season, which is certainly impressive. Next up, Team Teal hosts the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at 4 pm PT.
Sources: Sharks Audio Network, ESPN, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X
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