The San Jose Sharks took on the Florida Panthers in their sold out home opener at SAP Center this past Thursday. With a raucous crowd and great expectations for the team, the Sharks looked to please the fans early.
Mason Marchment netted the first goal with a long shot that snuck past the Panthers goalie with 5:46 left in the first period to give the Sharks an early lead. With the opening score, Mason Marchment and his late father, Bryan Marchment, who spent 6 seasons with the Sharks as a defenseman, became the second father-son duo to score for the Sharks.
The Sharks conceded 4 penalties through the first 26 minutes of play. And thanks to the stiff goalkeeping of Yaroslav Askarov, no goals were given up. Instead, one defensive stand kickstarted an attack the other way. Macklin Celebrini stole the puck from Matthew Tkachuk and the footrace began. Celebrini lured a defender away and passed to an open Will Smith who wristered in the shorthanded goal to light up the crowd.
The Will Smith party didn’t stop there as the youngster scored once again 5 minutes later, this time on the other end of the power play. Smith had an opportunity in front of the net from a Celebrini pass; instead, he elected to pass the puck back to Celly who was now moving behind the net. Mack then toe-tapped the puck to his stick, attempted a wrap-around shot on the right side of the goal, and had the shot stopped on the red stripe. But an extra stick poke from Smith ensured the goal horn sounded. With the Sharks up 3-0 halfway through the 2nd period, The Tank was rocking. However, the tide would turn.
The Panthers struck back in the tailend of the 2nd period on their own powerplay (the 7th of the night, and 5th of the period). The goal of the rebound narrowed the Sharks lead. Then, within a span of 18 seconds to start the 3rd period, the Panthers tied the game. Their second of the night was from a bad double deflection (the puck bounced off a Panther’s player chest and off a Sharks stick). The follow-up equalizer came from Matthew Tkachuk who seemed to have all day to calibrate his wrister in front of Askarov.
And all of a sudden, the nightmares of yesteryear reappeared. Could the Sharks bounce back after losing such a large lead? A couple of missed opportunities for both sides would leave this question unanswered going into overtime.
The Sharks were on the hunt for most of overtime as they were awarded an early powerplay opportunity. Luca Cagnoni, Celebrini, Michael Misa, and Will Smith all took strong shots but none scored during the powerplay. However, the team remained persistent and unswayed. A breakaway from Will Smith during both teams’ line change created confusion among the Panthers defense. Luca Cagnoni snuck down the left flank undetected and received a perfectly placed pass from Smith. The 21 year-old defenseman went five-hole to score his first big-league goal and win the Sharks their first game of the season.
After Friday’s practice, Cagnoni talked about the scoring sequence saying “[that] was an unbelievable pass. I mean, I usually don’t shoot five-hole. I was just like, kind of put my head down and… screw it a little bit. But… great play by [Will], just letting me kind of get above that guy. And he’s a special player.”
Center Alexander Wennberg added in his thoughts on the rollercoaster of a game: “I feel like in the past, especially to start the season, we [found] a way to lose those games. So to step up and even go into overtime. I feel like we still had that swagger to [say] we’re going to win the game. So I think we take that with us and… just carry it on.”
The Sharks claim victory to start the ’26-’27 campaign and will face the Los Angeles Kings back in SAP Center on October 2 (Saturday) at 7:00 PM PT. They aim to continue the good vibrations and keep fans’ spirits high.
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