The San Jose Sharks are 2-0-0, and the early returns have a little of everything: overtime winners, young scorers popping, and just enough late-game panic to keep the alarms blaring.
Saturday night brought the latest example. With 1.3 seconds left in the second period, Quinton Byfield beat Yaroslav Askarov short-side on the power play, and a comfortable-looking lead got sliced down in the kind of moment that can change the whole feel of a game. San Jose still pulled out a 5-4 overtime win, but the third period turned into survival mode.
That’s the odd part of this start. The Sharks have already matched their win total from the kind of opener they wanted, and they’ve done it with back-to-back overtime victories - something the franchise had never done to open a season.
They’re 2-0-0 for the first time since 2021-22. The names on the scoresheet are the right ones, too.
Igor Chernyshov has been a force, scoring twice against the Los Angeles Kings, including the winner off a Macklin Celebrini feed. Luca Cagnoni opened the season by scoring the overtime winner against the Florida Panthers.
The talent is there, and it’s showing up immediately.
But so is the old problem.
Against the Kings, the Sharks went up 4-2 on Chernyshov’s backhand at 4:08 of the third period and then let the game drift away. Erik Haula cut the lead to one at 10:21, Artemi Panarin tied it at 15:00, and Los Angeles spent much of overtime controlling the puck and forcing San Jose to chase.
The Sharks finally broke free when Celebrini stripped a tired Byfield and sent Chernyshov the other way for the finish. San Jose was outshot 12-7 in the third and 35-25 overall.
That kind of finish is exactly what haunted them last season.
The third-period collapse was the defining flaw of the Sharks’ 2025-26 season, the one that turned leads into losses and left them four points short of a playoff spot. For stretches, they were able to score enough to cover it up.
Eventually, it caught up with them. Seeing the same script show up in October, even in wins, is a rough reminder of how fragile those leads still are.
It’s also why the offseason moves matter here. Grier spent the summer and real money to address this, bringing in Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse, and Michael Kesselring to add size and composure late in games.
So far, the newcomers have looked fine, and Cagnoni has earned his place after making the team out of camp. On paper, the blue line is better.
On the ice, it looks better, too. But the bigger issue hasn’t gone away: what San Jose does with a lead in the final ten minutes.
Part of that is youth. Young teams tend to retreat, lose structure, and invite pressure when the game tightens, and the Sharks remain one of the youngest teams in the league.
The Byfield goal at the end of the second period was a veteran play against a group that is still learning how to close. Collin Graf was a stick-length away from taking the puck away before Byfield picked the corner.
Those are the tiny margins that decide whether a team closes out a game or just hangs on.
Ryan Warsofsky didn’t sound interested in pretending the record means more than the process. “We won the game, that’s good, but we gotta get going here,” he said.
“We can put the puck in the net, but we’re trying to win a lot of hockey games and go do something in the spring. And you have to play a certain way, or you won’t.
We can’t just rely on skill.”
That’s the story in a nutshell. The Sharks can score with anyone when Celebrini, Chernyshov, and the rest are rolling.
They’ve already shown that. But the teams that stick around into May are the ones that handle the quiet minutes, protect a two-goal lead, and make the other side earn every inch.
San Jose has not done that yet. It got away with it against the Kings.
The Dallas Stars are next on Monday. At some point, a lead they let slip is not coming back.
In Other News...
Blackhawks Forward Depth Already Looks Like An Early Problem
Kevin Fiala is back on the ice and inching toward the next phase of his recovery after the multiple fractures in his left leg that he sustained during the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Kings winger has resumed skating over the past few days and was seen on the ice this morning, a meaningful step after a significant injury that had put his availability for the start of the season in doubt.
Barring setbacks, Los Angeles is still targeting November 1 for his return, which gives the Kings a clearer sense of when one of their key forwards might be back in the mix. Until then, the club will keep tracking a depth chart that has already been tested elsewhere in the league, with Chicagos Andrew Mangiapane expected to miss several weeks and Minnesotas Danila Yurov also dealing with a recent injury scare. [Read more 🡒]