The San Jose Sharks wasted no time announcing themselves in their first competitive game of the season, rolling past the Los Angeles Kings 8-1 on Saturday night in the opener of the 2026 Rookie Faceoff.
Filip Bystedt opened the scoring by tipping a Jake Boltmann shot past Kings goalie Carter George, and the Sharks kept coming. George answered with a big save on Bystedt midway through the first, stretching across the crease to stop a one-timer, but the reprieve didn’t last long. Carson Wetsch jumped on a bouncing puck moments later and buried it for a 2-0 lead.
Wetsch wasn’t done. Less than a minute after his goal, he turned playmaker on a two-on-one and set up Andre Gasseau to make it 3-0 just over halfway through the opening period. The Sharks’ veteran line then nearly added another when Igor Chernyshov sprung Michael Misa for a breakaway, though Misa couldn’t get a shot away.
The Kings got their first power play with 2:43 left in the first after Bystedt was called for cross-checking following a dangerous hit. That stretch didn’t slow San Jose much. Wetsch and Gasseau pushed forward while shorthanded, the Kings broke up the rush, but Phillip Sinn collected the loose puck and fed Gasseau in front for his second goal of the night and a 4-1 lead before the horn.
San Jose kept pressing in the second. Brendan Hoffman created a breakaway by forcing a turnover at the defensive blue line, but George kept him off the board. The Sharks earned their first power play with nine minutes left in the period when Kaleb Lawrence was called for holding the stick, and once that chance expired, Wetsch struck again to make it 5-1.
The Kings had another man-advantage opportunity after Eric Pohlkamp was whistled for slashing with 2:30 left in the middle frame, but the Sharks killed it and carried the four-goal cushion into the third.
Early in the final period, Quentin Musty took a shot off the body and looked a little shaken up, though he stayed in the game. On his next shift, he took a slashing penalty. Wetsch then had a chance at the hat trick while shorthanded, but George shut him down on the breakaway.
The final period belonged to Ivar Stenberg. He picked up his first goal of the tournament when Mack Oliphant’s point shot deflected in off his skate with 8:47 remaining.
Just 23 seconds later, Stenberg struck again, finishing a perfect feed from Chernyshov to push the lead to 7-1. The Kings took issue with the goal and a large scrum broke out right after, with Chernyshov and Henry Brzustewicz each earning 10-minute misconducts.
The physical edge kept rising from there. Musty dropped the gloves with the much larger Woolley with 6:27 left, Alexander Karmanov delivered a heavy hit on Jakub Dvorak that left the Kings defenseman shaken up, and Liam Lefebvre immediately squared off with the Sharks’ 7-foot-1 defenseman. Karmanov drew a roar from the TechCU Arena crowd as he skated off, Boltmann had a scrap of his own, and Pavel Martinu added the Sharks’ eighth goal with 1:30 remaining to close out the lopsided win.
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For San Jose, his departure is another reminder of how quickly the roster picture can shift when a young defenseman starts drawing attention elsewhere. The Oilers see him as a player who could fit in as a depth blueliner, but the way he plays and the way he adjusts this fall will determine whether he sticks in the lineup or ends up in a different kind of role than the one Edmonton is now weighing so carefully. [Read more 🡒]