The Sharks' slate of preseason games this year is complete, and I am greatly looking forward to the start of the regular season for this team. Before we jump into meaningful games next week, let's recap the four preseason games the Sharks played in this year here:
Game 1 (9/20/26): Sharks lose to the Anaheim Ducks 6-2. This was largely due to the Sharks trotting out a lineup consisting of mostly AHL-level prospects and the Ducks rolling out a lineup with more established veteran players. Eric Pohlkamp scored the first goal of the game for the Sharks, but it was mostly Ducks from there. Jackson LaCombe and Leo Carlsson scored the first two Ducks goals in the first period. Jimmy Huntington scored the second Sharks goal of the contest in the second period, while the Ducks responded with three consecutive goals from Beckett Sennecke and an additional goal from Tristan Luneau. Besides Pohlkamp and Huntington scoring the only two Sharks goals of this game, Ethan Cardwell and Brett Lawson each recorded an assist for San Jose as well. Eric Comrie recorded 14 saves on 16 shots against, while Matt Davis recorded 12 saves on 16 shots against for Team Teal.
Game 2 (9/22/26): Sharks lose to the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in a shootout. Michael Misa opened the scoring with a power play goal early in the third period, assisted by Ivar Stenberg and Michael Misa. The Golden Knights responded a few minutes later on a goal from Alexander Holtz to even the game at one. Ivar Stenberg scored a fantastic goal in the shootout, but two successful attempts in the skills competition by the Golden Knights from Matyas Sapovaliv and Braeden Bowman won this contest for Vegas. Yaroslav Askarov was outstanding in the crease, compiling 22 saves on 23 shots against.
Game 3 (9/24/26): Sharks shut out and completely blow out the Ducks 10-0 on home ice. Unlike the first preseason match between these two clubs in Anaheim, the Sharks had more of their veteran players in their lineup against a mostly AHL-heavy Ducks lineup. Half of the goals scored in this game occurred in the first period via Mason Marchment, Ivar Stenberg, Igor Chernyshov twice, and Michael Misa. San Jose added two more goals in the second period via Stenberg and Marchment's second goals of the game, followed by three in the third period from Brett Leason, Ivar Stenberg to complete his hat trick, and Filip Bystedt. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped all 21 shots he faced. This complete team effort from the Sharks felt amazing after they had dropped their first two preseason contests of the year.
Game 4 (9/26/26): Sharks defeat the Golden Knights 4-2 in Vegas in their preseason finale. Dmitry Orlov, Macklin Celebrini, Mason Marchment, and Michael Misa each scored a goal, specifically went top shelf, for the Sharks in this one. On the other hand, Tomas Hertl and Nic Dowd scored the only two goals for the Knights. Yaroslav Askarov was outstanding, recording 28 saves on 30 shots against.
In all, I enjoyed the fact that the preseason was shortened to two games this year due to the new CBA, and the Sharks' NHL-level talent is more than ready to take the next step towards returning to the playoffs. I especially liked how Ivar Stenberg performed this preseason, and it was amazing to see Macklin Celebrini earn the Sharks' captaincy ahead of the new season. In addition, the Sharks have practically confirmed this morning that Luca Cagnoni and Nolan Allan made the Sharks' opening night roster as their sixth and seventh defensemen respectively after reassigning Eric Pohlkamp to the Barracuda. The only unexpected Sharks roster addition for opening night following this preseason appears to be Brett Leason, simply because Adam Gaudette is currently day-to-day with an injury and is questionable to play on Thursday. Since these preseason games do not matter all that much, I cannot complain that the Sharks went 2-2 in this stretch of games this past week. Next up, the Sharks open their 2026-27 regular season at home against the Florida Panthers on Thursday at 7 pm PT, and it will be interesting to see what other roster moves are made before then. Until then, stay tuned for my personal experience post from Thursday's Sharks season opener coming later this week.
Sources: Sharks Audio Network, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X, San Jose Hockey Now
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