Team Teal came all the way back from down 5-1 to complete one of their greatest regular-season wins in franchise history in a 6-5 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Sharks struck first in the middle of the opening period, when Tyler Toffoli went bar down from near the blue line for his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Sam Dickinson and Alex Wennberg. A few minutes later, the Penguins tied the game at one on a power play goal by Sidney Crosby. Pittsburgh took the lead just 18 seconds into the second period on a goal by Rutger McGroarty. Later in the second period, the Penguins extended their lead to two, this time via Kevin Hayes. The Pens were not done yet in the middle frame, with Bryan Rust scoring on the power play with 6.6 seconds left in the period to push their lead to three. Also in the second period, Philipp Kurashev slammed into the boards after speeding towards the net on a shot attempt, and as a result suffered an injury and did not return to this game.
Early in the third period, Will Smith skated to the dressing room favoring his right arm after getting hit hard into the boards by Parker Wotherspoon. It was great to see Macklin Celebrini stick up for his best friend by going after Wotherspoon, giving him a few shoves and punches and wrestling him to the ice. Celebrini was then assessed a four-minute roughing penalty, while Wotherspoon only got two minutes for roughing. On the ensuing Penguins power play, Anthony Mantha cashed in to make it 5-1. Soon after, the Sharks got one back on a two-man advantage via John Klingberg's sixth goal of the season, assisted by Tyler Toffoli and Collin Graf. Later in the third period, the Sharks further clawed back into this game against all odds and scored three more unanswered goals to even the game at five and force overtime. These three late goals were as follows: William Eklund's eighth goal of the season from Alex Wennberg and Adam Gaudette, Macklin Celebrini's 16th goal of the season from Tyler Toffoli and Collin Graf, and Tyler Toffoli's ninth goal of the season from Alex Wennberg and Macklin Celebrini. At around the three-minute mark of overtime, the Sharks finished off the Penguins in an epic comeback for the ages. It began with John Klingberg making an incredible dangle around Sidney Crosby, dishing the puck to Macklin Celebrini, then back to Klingberg, who buried it for his seventh goal of the season and the game-winner to finish the greatest comeback victory I have ever seen in the regular season. Collin Graf earned his third assist of the day on the Klingberg OT GWG as well.
Yaroslav Askarov is back in net for the Sharks in Pittsburgh, compiling 38 saves on 43 shots against. In addition, Nick Leddy and Vincent Iorio were back on the Sharks blue line in place Timothy Liljegren and Shakir Mukhamadullin. Mukhamadullin is dealing with an upper-body injury, while Liljegren was a healthy scratch. Zack Ostapchuk was a healthy scratch as well.
Despite concerns surrounding injuries to Philipp Kurashev and Will Smith, after those occurred, Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks decided that they were not losing this game and rallied all the way back from down by four goals to complete possibly their greatest, most epic regular-season win in franchise history. The end result to their current five-game road trip finale and how it all unfolded left me speechless and emotional. Words cannot describe how extremely proud I am of this squad, and I do not need to see much more to determine that the Sharks can actually make a run for the playoffs this season. At this point, the Sharks have fully proved to me that the sky is the limit for them and what they can accomplish. Team Teal returns home for its next three games starting on Tuesday against the Calgary Flames at 7 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports California, Curtis Pashelka via X, NHL App
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