San Jose Sharks
Sharks Surpass Last Year’s Win Total In Just 42 Games, Beat Jackets 5-2
The San Jose Sharks welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets into SAP Center.
Pavol Regenda and Alex Wennberg and Zack Ostapchuk and Mario Ferraro and Macklin Celebrini scored, and the Sharks won 5-2.
Period 1
Dickinson-Iorio to start for some reason, instead of warm-up pairing of Ferraro-Iorio, Dickinson-Leddy.
5 in: San Jose Sharks have struggled so far, Iorio then Dickinson don’t get it to the next Shark, leads to a Fantilli cross-slot one-timer. Then Leddy struggles with puck, turns into an Aston-Reese chance. Nedeljkovic has been clutch so far.
Severson penalty: Sharks really needed a breath, get some offense going.
8 left: Dickinson steps up, gets it to Regenda for an exit. That’s a nice play by Dickinson, he joins the rush too. Leads to a Toffoli deflection in front.
7 left: Celebrini just misses Eklund for a lead pass. Jackets intercept. But Sharks starting to skate and counter.
6 left: Third line follows with a strong forecheck shift. Graf, especially aggressive on puck. Skinner like dog on bone on puck, and Dellandrea too…but Dellandrea takes a penalty.
4 left: PK’er Graf closes on Fantilli on the wall, he really seems to have learned the art of that. Then Dickinson has calm under duress, takes an extra beat, which gets the full clear, instead of throwing it toward a Jacket. After a slow start, Sharks are righting their game.
2 left: Orlov knocks Gaunce with puck down, that’s killing a play.
Regenda goal: Now six goals in five games. John Druce, anybody? Jackets team defense completely falls asleep, looks like their NZ forecheck gets overloaded on one side. Nice spot by Toffoli, who stretches it out to Wennberg, there’s now a 2-on-1 with Regenda. That’s a textbook shoot yourself in the foot goal. As well as Columbus as played in this period, got to be a little deflating to head into the room down, and on a completely preventable goal.
The dads were loving that one! 👏 pic.twitter.com/3bU5VrG5Ar
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 7, 2026
Period 2
1 in: Severson said no to the Celebrini spin-o-rama move.
3 in: 3-on-2 chance on power play, but Eklund in front doesn’t get enough on the Wennberg pass.
Wennberg goal: Never mind! Good aggressiveness by Wennberg there, to take it himself to net. Backhand. Top power play unit hasn’t scored in a while, I think. Jacket knocks Celebrini into net, causing an inadvertent distraction. Aaron Portzline tells me that Columbus still paying Wennberg; they bought him out in 2020. This is the last year of that.
Chernyshov penalty: That’s an NHL pace penalty, Chernyshov just a step behind Monahan. Chernyshov needs to recognize that gap that Monahan is hitting hard.
6 in: Nice kill by Wennberg, skates it in deep, five Jackets all over him, he kills time. Sharks barely allowing Jackets to set up. And when they do, last gasp of PP one-timer by Severson, Ned is there.
8 in: Sharks’ fourth line draws another penalty, Goodrow on cycle draws a Febbro interference. Earlier it was Reaves in NZ.
8 left: Ostapchuk hits Goodrow with a gorgeous pass. Behind-the-back feed from the corner. Another example of Ostapchuk’s offense trending up.
6 left: Orlov had a couple fantastic lead passes to Celebrini. Perfectly timed, right into Celebrini’s stride.
Mateychuk penalty: Dellandrea taken hard into net, Mateychuk trips him as Dellandrea is taking puck inside. He’s helped off. Tough beat for Dellandrea, who’s definitely been playing hurt recently.
Ty Dellandrea left the ice after being tripped and then colliding with the goalie pic.twitter.com/wuLFIfE3He
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 7, 2026
Jenner penalty: Chernyshov on the Sharks 5-on-3 unit.
Werenski goal: What a shot. Second line was backchecking hard, but gave the wrong guy just enough space. San Jose Sharks may rue not doing more with the power plays.
Olivier 10-9 Reaves. A true heavyweight bout, it was Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots for a while, until Olivier landed a decisive blow that brought Reaves to his knees.
Ryan Reaves vs Mathieu Olivier pic.twitter.com/6hA5O9lgcS
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) January 7, 2026
San Jose Sharks played a good second, but Jackets may ride momentum in the third, between the Werenski goal and the Olivier KO.
Period 3
Toffoli has 7 shots so far through two periods, hopefully that means a slump-buster is coming soon
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 7, 2026
Correction, Reaves is in the penalty box, amazing.
Dellandrea not on bench
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 7, 2026
Sharks say Dellandrea done for game.
Jackets coming on, as expected, to start final frame. Let’s see what the Sharks got.
5 in: Reaves skating around as they clean the ice, he looks poised to go. Impressive, you assume he must have gone through a layer or two of checks to make sure he was OK.
6 in: Dellandrea out, bet there will be lots of double-shifting Celebrini. Let’s see if he can close out the Jackets. Doesn’t start out fantastic with a near-giveaway trying to skate it out away from Nedeljkovic. But he has defensive back-up.
9 in: Eklund does a great job up high on Provorov, defensively, swipes it away and attacks.
9 left: Love that NZ steal from Ostapchuk, leads to a Skinner chance. Zack has been good tonight. But then Johnson, who’s plenty fast, beats Celebrini down the slot for a great chance, Nedeljkovic erases it.
6 left: Going into tonight, San Jose Sharks were 0-7-2 in games that Celebrini did not score a point. Do they snap that streak tonight?
Ostapchuk goal: Love that for him, his best offensive game this season.
Monahan goal: Wennberg looked like he might have caught a missed high stick? But then, they don’t sort it out, and Monahan squirts free. It was a missed high stick, but Sharks defended poorly. As Remenda said, Ferraro and Liljegren, neither were below forwards battling, both were fronting.
Ferraro goal: When’s the last time that the Sharks scored a 200-foot empty netter? Feels like forever.
Celebrini goal: OK Sharks are still winless if he doesn’t get a point lol.
#SJSharks have surpassed last year's win total (20) just 42 games into this season
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 7, 2026
Sheng is the ultimate fluffer
What does that even mean? Cause it sounds like you’re talking shit…
Got to add more than a simple hit and run on Sheng. Context son.
Not sure context was his goal with that handle, folks
I’m not sure this is accurate. If you look at Shengs UFF% (ultimate fluff for) he’s at about league average. On the other hand, his GlfK (glaze for Klingberg) rate was elite to start but has been up and down since. I think that’s expected considering all the attention he’s been getting so far, and I would expect that to even out as the season goes on. The big Sheng stat no one seems to be talking about is his AAA (all around access). It seems like most players and staff are genuinely happy to talk to Sheng. I can… Read more »
Great stats, really appreciate it. Shengs AAA is off the charts! He even got Hasso to do an interview! Sheng is a treasure. Sign that guy long term!
I didn’t know you had to list your current career and job title in your handle.
Whelp, looks like 3C is available. Delly did not look good. Guess maybe we’ll see Misa plug n play at 3C pretty soon.
Hey Snark, you see Barrett Jackman at the game as Reaves mentor? That cracks me up. I remember Jackman as the only guy I ever saw beat up Owen Nolan
I don’t remember the fight between those 2. Honestly I can’t remember a single fight while he was with the Sharks that I would consider a loss. I’ll have to look that one up. Or maybe not, don’t want to spoil my pristine memory of him.😜
Yup. We’ll be seeing some changes, soon I hope. Misa, Smith, Kurashev, and maybe another defenseman?
Regenda, as I’ve said, will solidify his place on the 2nd line. Graf on the 3rd. These 2 are not shy.
Wennberg continues to glow with his new contract and his Dad in the stands. Does Eklund remain on Mack’s line?
Ned played great as well as the 4th line. Ostapchuck showed something on that breakaway goal that I hadn’t seen in him before. Power all the way. Nice, very nice.
Regenda will end up back in the 3rd line as soon as other guys come back. Unfortunately I think he’s too slow to keep a top 6 spot when everyone is healthy. I’ll be shocked if he isn’t the first sent back down. He’s a UFA so they probably aren’t too worried if someone grabs him. Personally I prefer they trade someone like Skinner and resign Regenda for a couple seasons. myself as well as the guys on the podcast have been pumping UpChucks tires for a while now. i still like Eklund on Cellys line until Smith comes back.… Read more »
Do you think putting Misa on Wennberg’s wing would be an unreasonable move, considering the long game is Misa at 2C?
That’s been the popular opinion lately.
It’s one way they could take it. I do think Misa will have to earn that spot though, because you have Will and Kurashev coming back, Regenda has been a goal scoring machine, etc. I will trust whatever the team does, but I think they might be leaning towards sending him back to juniors simply because there isn’t a spot. They could make some deals, maybe trading Skinner, Kurashev or even Ferraro in the next couple weeks, too.
i’d prefer misa at 3c with vet wingers than can play some center personally instead of as wennbergs winger on the 2nd line. think it’s better for his development to learn the position as a 12-15 mpg 3c than to get him more time as a winger next to the teams main defensive center, a bit like the slow approach they’ve taken with dickinson where he’s consistently been 3ld and told to focus on his defensive game first
I agree with this side of it. The sooner he’s a competent NHL center even 3C, the better off the team will be.
I think it’s totally reasonable. My only push back is they kept saying they want to keep him at center.
Hell yeah!!! What a battle! Respect to Columbus for the hard game. It’s crazy the two teams were tied in points in the standings, yet Columbus was last place in the East and San Jose was one game outta the playoffs. They didn’t play like a last place team. Our fourth line was great! Loved the fight, and was very relieved that he’s all good. I love the respect Reaves and Olivier have for each other. The recognition from Reaves to let Olivier have a fight at that point in the game was very honorable. Down 2-1, Olivier was trying… Read more »
That fight was absurd. They didn’t even look angry with each other and Reeves got creamed. Just plain dumb.
It’s not dumb at all. I outlined the logic of why it made a lot of sense.
That’s because you don’t understand the sport buddy.😉
was definitely a high stick by Jenner on Wennberg, right prior to goal #2 for CBJ. Ostapchuk has taken massive strides and I gotta say, I never knew he had the kind of burst. Celebrini has looked a bit tired at times in recent games. This game, he looked like it all game. The tell is when his timing is off, and it was for most of the game. His first handful of games this season, same thing. Maybe he’s fighting a bug? Back to backs coming up, but multiple days of rest between. The back-to-back are a lot tougher… Read more »
That Ostapchuk goal was a bolt of lightning, that burst was incredible. I agree with Sheng it looks like he’s really gaining confidence and doing some real playmaking the last 5 or so games. If this is who he’s gonna be, Grier and his scouts were absolutely spot on about him. I’m on record loving this trade from the first second, but I will admit I might be wrong for not loving it enough.
At least the empty netter helped Mack’s stat. He did look a bit out of it.
Great goal by Ostapchuk!
The team held on and didn’t break.
When they traded for him they talked about his skating ability for his size. I mentioned it here after watching a couple Cuda playoff games last season.
I believe it was you who spoke up about Warso letting Mack stay on the ice for longer shifts and/or double shifting him and how it could impact him as the season goes on. Maybe last night was a glimpse into what happens, even with a Macklin, when a coach doesn’t reign in the minutes. Macklin fighting a bug could be a thing, but if that’s the case then Warso absolutely would know about it and should be reducing his ice time a bit.
There have been a lot of off days lately, he shouldn’t be tired right now. Maybe an emotional tiredness since he was pretty jacked about being named to Team Canada.
The Olympics is what has me a bit worried. He was tired at the end of last season, and the condensed season schedule plus no break is not good for the Sharks. Can still be happy for him, but it’s objectively not a good thing for the Sharks in the 2025-26 season.
But I don’t think there would be any good reason to be physically tired last night.
It’s subjective wether or not if Mac’s participation in the Olympics is going to be a good thing for the Sharks. I think it’ll AMAZING for the team. Mac is going to get to play along side Crosby, and pick up all the winning habits of a hall of famer. That’s going to be immensely valuable as we embark on a decade plus of playoff runs! As far as this season goes, I think it already has helped the team. Making the Olympics and proving themselves to the hockey world has been a big motivator for a ton of Olympic… Read more »
Just noticed, Avs now officially on a losing streak!!! Back-to-back regulation losses in Florida (they’d lost 4 in a row earlier, though 3 of the 4 came in OT)
Stars have lost 6 straight too. Would sure be great if they came into the tank flat on Saturday, the Sharks need some dubs before the Olympic break any way they can get em
Soooo uhh Regenda is on fire, and playing all around very well
He’s a manimal. Love that he’s not shy to throw his weight around. Maybe they just resign him instead of going for Sherwood?
Please lord leave Sherwood and his 18% shooting this year to someone like Seattle to overpay. No draft pick, and no extension, for that guy.
Don’t get hung up too much on shooting percentage. Pavs used inflated shooting percentages to worm his way into every Sharks fans heart.😉 if the cost isn’t prohibitive I want him. He’s a league leader in hits and can pot 20 goals in a season. Team doesn’t have a middle 6 winger with that kind of physical impact and they desperately need it if they want to last past a sweep in the playoffs whenever they make it. I think his contract is going to be affordable too.
Maybe they sign Sherwood in the offseason, but the talk is Vancouver wants a lot for him now. This is the kind of deal I would make in a couple years to round out a 3rd line, but not now
Maybe Grier can swing both moves? Regenda can take Skinner’s place, and would likely have a lower $ AAV with a new contract. To your point below, if Sherwood can be acquired without giving away the ranch, and Grier gets a sign and trade in place for maybe 3 x $2M and no trade protection then I’d not complain.
I’d also be content if Sherwood doesn’t end up in SJ, and Regenda is retained beyond this year. He’s showing that he can help the team, even as a call up.
Pavol “we have Sherwood at home” Regenda
That’s one! Good start to this difficult stretch of games. However this was also one of the games projected as a Win, the next one in LA will be bigger & with more at stake.
Cuda call-ups are hitting! Zacko –solid 4c, Igor –great fill-in on top line & Reggie –Lighting it up w 6 goals in 5 gms. JMac doing something right.
JMacs been doing a lot right since he took over. I’m dying to see what Cags looks like at the NHL now.
Hope the Dellandrea injury isn’t too serious. Can only imagine what his Dad up in the box felt, too.
Fun note. With their 6-2 win, the Oilers become the only team in the Pacific without a negative goal differential. They’ve climbed up to …. even.
the Avs at +70… sheesh…
Ostapchuk was legitimately incredible tonight. What a performance from him. He’s really growing into his game these last few weeks and starting to flash some offensive skill as well.