San Jose Sharks
Sharks Blow 3-0 Lead, Lose 4-3 in OT
EDMONTON — The San Jose Sharks visit the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
Collin Graf and Adam Gaudette and Michael Misa scored, but the Sharks blew a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 in OT.
Period 1
Graf goal: Nice job by the top line to back each other up, Smith high turnover, Graf doesn’t allow the Oilers to exit, forces it back, and Celebrini strongarms it to Smith, who holds until he can get Graf wide-open. Really, an impressive demonstration of each forward’s brilliance.
Gaudette goal: Beaut feed by Eklund into Gaudette speed. It was also Eklund who forced the turnover in the NZ, love to see that.
3 goals in first 7:37 against the New York Rangers, 3 in the first 5:55 against the Vancouver Canucks, now 2 in the first 1:35.
3 in: Celebrini defends McDavid like he gets defended, McDavid fronted in OZ, Celebrini shadows from the back, picks McDavid off.
4 in: Podkolzin 3-on-2 chance, Oilers are going to have more pushback than New York and Vancouver. Good test.
8 in: McDavid lulls San Jose Sharks to sleep, they’re watching him so close, great high-to-low pass, but Ferraro prevents the hard cross-slot pass by Nugent-Hopkins to Hyman that would’ve been a likely goal.
Fun match-up, Draisaitl beats Celebrini circling behind net, then hard backhand before Celebrini can catch up. Elite hockey match-up.
10 in: Artemi Panarin isn’t stopping this. Sharks can’t kill an Oilers’ cycle, the last few minutes. It’s what Edmonton has consistently done to San Jose for a long time.
Misa goal: Incredible area stretch pass from Liljegren to Misa speed. First San Jose Sharks shot in a while.
3 goals in first 7:37 against Rangers, 3 in the first 5:55 against the Canucks, 3 in first 11:40 against Oilers.
4 left: Regenda with a physical shift, bowls over Frederic, then forces the puck out from Janmark.
Knoblauch already putting together his McDavid-Draisaitl Voltron.
Period 2
San Jose Sharks have played a fairly clean second so far, obviously aided by a power play, but have quieted Oilers.
Goodrow no-goal: Ostapchuk goes a little too hard into Ingram, not touched, so fair call by the refs for goalie interference. Nice play, regardless, Gaudette point shot, Ostapchuk crashes net, Goodrow there to clean up.
10 in: Momentum management, Sharks could use more offensive pressure, I want Smith to shoot it there, rolling down hill on attack, off Celebrini drop. The shooting lane was there for a snipe. He doesn’t, extra pass intercepted, and Oilers counteratack, maybe an Askarov pokecheck on Lazar partial breakaway?
9 left: Sharks come back with purpose though, Toffoli just misses a Grade-A in the slot, then Misa and company go to work on forecheck. Eklund has played with a fire under his ass tonight.
8 left: Kapanen blocks Ferraro point shot high, has a brief break, but Liljegren recovers and erases it for his partner. He’s been playing well.
Ekholm penalty: Crowd doesn’t like it, and I think they’re right. Ekholm stick did get high, so maybe it was a natural reaction. Celebrini, uh, tried to decline the penalty? Mack just adding to his lore.
Celebrini draws a high-stick anyway, after trying to stick up for Ekholm. Talk about a young kid who plays an honest game. #SJSharks on the PP. pic.twitter.com/7C3Gf7oV21
— TEAL TOWN USA – A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TEALTOWNUSA) January 30, 2026
2 left: What a Wennberg steal on Draisaitl, Sharks were tired. Ferraro-Desharnais were on the ice for two minutes-plus.
Period 3
Graf takes it to the net, like it.
Draitsaitl goal: Long shot squeezes through Askarov, who’s been great tonight, and Draisaitl puts it away. Here come the Oilers, can the Sharks withstand the pressure? Good test for the young Sharks, who by and large have sone a decent job so far tonight.
5 in: Dickinson kills play versus Lazar, like. Not able to make the first pass out, but good defense.
6 in: Smart against-the-grain clear by Celebrini, catches Oilers off guard. Mature, doesn’t force attack. That said, the Sharks need to mount an attack soon. It’s all bend don’t break now.
9 in: Sharks kill huge penalty! Just the game, Oilers missing routine passes (for them) or puck skipping. Askarov with a remarkable reaction save with his glove, awkward, but bats it out.
5 left: Outstanding forechecking shift from Ostapchuk, Eklund, and Misa. More of that to close.
McDavid goal: Basically an Oilers’ power play goal, as Ingram was pulled. McDavid picked a corner after a long cycle. Can the San Jose Sharks put the foot on the throat?
3 left: Good calm by Goodrow with puck along DZ wall, he waits for pressure, then one-hands it out for Eklund.
Bouchard goal: Looks like it might have deflected? Ostapchuk had a chance to clear. Earlier too, he had the chance for the ENG, made the right play to try to get it to Celebrini, but Mack out of gas. Tough to give a point to a team that you’re trying to push out of playoffs.
OT
Wennberg-Liljegren-Ferraro to start, Sharks trying to keep Celebrini for next change.
Hyman goal: Bad turnover by Liljegren…and he gets in Askarov’s way.
What a fucking clownshow ending lol. Asky played great AND got lucky. Sharks absolutely sat on their fucking hands. But what the fuck was Warsofsky thinking in OT?
Warso lost us that one
Over coaching, definitely.
Yeah. Sending your second pairing D out to play against McDavid and Drai is a mis-step on Warso’s part.
Was thinking same thing. When heard Ferraro,Lilgeren against McDavid, Bouchard,Hyman thought game over. Got 1 point, but heartbreaking loss.
Basically, imo, the game changed downhill for the Sharks from the moment Ferraro sent the puck over glass. That killed the momentum Sharks had up till that point. The #1 PP went to action, didn’t score but created momentum for the Oilers. As to OT player selection, hm…I could probably select better than Warso.
Delete this post please.
Absolutely! My first thought, too. I couldn’t understand our 2 low level Dmen facing the league’s best. Plus Wennberg? Another +/- deficient player. Yikes.
Again, Askarov should not be facing top teams. He eventually wilts. Let Ned handle the top scorers while Asky develops his game. We need these wins at the moment, not the deflation that his creates. It’s the one habit we need to get over.
“Low level Dmen”… you just described most of the D-core.🤣
For better or worse that’s his current shut down pair that can skate. Wenny is the best defensive forward.
He didn’t get in Askarovs way he was checked down.
In what fucking universe was that not a penalty??
smart play by Hyman to check him into Askarov..the ensuing interference by Lilj gave him an open net. Hyman knew what he was doing.
When Edmonton decided it was time to quit messing around the Sharks stood no chance. Just a completely different class of team in the third period. The gap between us and real contenders is still very large and I hope Grier was reminded of that tonight.
Also, if you are thinking of how to match up against a team like the Oilers in playoff hockey, I don’t think getting Panarin is the solution.
Exactly
It’s not only Panarin. It’s a top tiered RHdman in Fox plus another possible top 4 dman.
Zekes hypothetical wasn’t real. The Rangers are not trading Fox.
Correct, it was a hypothetical.
The Sharks need for RHD, however, is real.
I also wouldn’t assume too much about the Rangers and Fox. If Fox believes Sullivan is the right coach and the re-tool will go quickly, expect that Fox is off the market. But he’s far enough into his career that he might not want to spend the next 3 seasons re-tooling, especially if he’s not a big believer in the new HC.
Fox has never been in this sort of situation before. Maybe he’s OK with it. Maybe not.
thank you for that. That grew on me as I thought about it and couldn’t understand why people balked at it. That was a great waste of energy.
2 of the 3 goals were scored 6 on 5. Hardly a case of Edmonton outclassing SJ.
SJ was the better team most of the night but played the 6 on 5 very poorly. And had an absolutely horrendous OT sequence. A learning lesson for sure but hold the hyperbole.
They severely outplayed the Sharks the entire 3rd period. It wasn’t just when it was 6on5
The Sharks outplayed them for the first two periods. EDM was the better team in the third but, despite that, the goals that determined the outcome didn’t occur until they had a 6 on 5 advantage. That’s the point.
EDM is a very good team. No debating that. But don’t ignore the facts.
That was depressing but it’s a point on the road
Bruh….
Yeah, pretty much.
Hopefully this game pissed off the team the same way it pissed off me. Team got to play harder for Asky. Not great Orly game.
Warso doing his best Boughner impression playing spare parts in OT.
Dam… Luckily for us, the NHL hands out half-wins for blowing a lead and losing in overtime. It works for us this time, but it’s silly that they don’t just count wins and losses.
What’s the argument for the league to hand out loser points?
It helps to have tight standings and it’s more exiting towards the finish line. Tonight Sharks were very lucky with that undeserved point b/c Ducks lost, LA lost, Utah lost and Vegas lost in OT. Only Seattle won distancing themselves from the Sharks for now…
The Utah loss was more painful than the Sharks loss
The tight standings are such a misrepresentation of what teams have been winning and losing hockey games. It’s very artificial. The Sharks have won more games than the division leader (Vegas). Vegas has a ridiculous 14 loser points.
If straight up wins and losses were counted, the Sharks would be one game behind 1st place in the division (Edmonton) with 3 games in hand.
One way to view how good a team is — look at the record at the end of regulation.
VGS is 18-14-21
SJS is 16-21-15
Vegas is legit above average — albeit not great in OT/SO
Sharks are legit below average — propped up by being really good in OT/SO
I don’t believe that accurately tells us who has been playing better.
Regardless of what you think of OT or shootouts, in those game scenarios, the battle is still on, and one team wins the battle. That’s stepping up in the big moments, staying focused and determined, and capitalizing on opportunities. All of those traits directly translate to the playoffs.
I think they should count as full wins, with no loser points
How many wins in regulation we have?
Talent and composure prevailed. We’ll get there.
Not our talent and composure. Give thanks to Warsofsky for that OT blunder.
Feel free to post your extensive coaching resume.😉
Warso was pissed off at his postgame presser!
They actually blew a 3-0 lead, not just a 3-1 lead. There were 4 unanswered goals.
Probably one of the ugliest collapses in a long time.
Great game to remind GMMG goals aren’t necessarily the answer, defense however is paramount.
I mean, if they get the fourth goal, game over. This team is scoring tons early. Late, not so much. A few extra goals would go a long way.
Better to learn the lesson now and get a point out of it.
You also need the talent. This trade that is proposed will make the team much better.
I’m not sure which trade we’re talking about?
I don’t know of any proposed trade, other than fan proposals. I don’t think Grier will make a trade for breadman, but we will see.
Thanks for the correction, brain cramp
Was Edmonton’s third goal deflected? I didn’t see a deflection on replay. Thought it looked like a pretty weak goal as Askarov had a clear line of sight to the shot but maybe it was deflected.
Hopefully, just temporarily, but Sharks are out of the playoffs at this point.
Not by points percentage which is the more important number.
I use the games over NHL .500 because its more accurate.
EDM +9 (5th overall)
SJS +6
SEA +6
Utah +6
LAK +5
ANA +5
NSH +1 (11th overall)
In this case, Sharks are 3-way tied for 6th. Its incredibly close.
Genuinely, why not just count wins and losses?
It counts wins and regulation losses. The ‘games over NHL .500’ approach effectively addresses the difference in games played. The NHL standings are biased to teams which have played more games. Its the only league standings which does this. Its silly and confusing, especially to newcomers. Games over .500 is also the same system used in MLB, NFL and NBA. Its not instantly obvious, but the standings in all those leagues are based on ‘games over .500’. A team that is 8 games over .500 has a half game lead over a team that’s 7 games over .500. Always. Simpler… Read more »
I’m trying to follow, but I don’t quite get it. The Sharks have played 52 games. They’ve won 27 of them, and lost 25 of those games. How could we be +6 above 500? Are you counting loser points?
Strange to say, but I was mostly encouraged by this game. It set up as the sort of game the Sharks might struggle to stay in. But they stayed in. The Sharks haven’t played a ton vs empty net offenses and EDM’s is probably one of the best. EDM got a fortunate bounce (off Orlov) on their 1st goal (not a good shift from Misa). The 6-5 was impressive — thought the Sharks had a chance at the empty net from Ostapchuk, but don’t think he found the lane and Macklin was a half-step behind on the race for the… Read more »
Agree, you are not going to stop McDavid and Draisitl all game, they are 2 of the best for a reason. A good lesson for the young Sharks.
At least the Sharks didn’t lose as painfully as Utah did tonite.
They held a 4-2 lead vs Carolina with 2 minutes left. And lost in regulation.
And the Ducks got shutout by VAN – just about as brutal, even if wasn’t a last second loss.
With that said, I am not sure that having to witness the idiotic coaching decision in OT was any less painful than losing in regulation would’ve been. But at least we got the loser point.
In the end, Sharks got beat because EDM is really good at skating 6 and the Sharks weren’t good at defending it. There will always be weaknesses and tonite, we saw one.