Once again, the San Jose Sharks took a lead into the third period and once again, the team lost. San Jose went from being up 2-1 over the Ottawa Senators when the puck dropped at the start of the third to down 3-2 with 17 minutes left to play. It was a less than ideal situation that this team has seen far too often this season. We won’t cannibalize his work, but as San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reports, these third-period losses after leading have put the Sharks in a position to set an unfortunate record that has not been seen in more than two decades.
The turn of the tide in this game actually began in the final minute of the second period, when Mario Ferraro took a roughing penalty that he didn’t need to take.
As much as I love when Ferraro gets fired up, that’s a terrible penalty to take knowing the 3rd period struggles.#TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/HxA73eQhyW
— SnipeCity420 (@SnipeCity420) March 2, 2025
In the third period, Collin Graf took a delay of game penalty and the Sharks handed the Senators 1:24 in 5-on-3. While the Senators didn’t score on the 5-on-3, the team was able to score two seconds after Ferraro’s penalty expired, enough time to tie the game. The reeling Sharks then handed Ottawa the lead a little over 90 seconds later, and that was that.
The game flow chart in all situations shows the ebb and flow of last night’s game.
While the Sharks rallied at the close of the third, even pulling within a goal with 1:27 left to play in the game, San Jose has not been able to get that one extra goal the team has needed.
Ottawa’s reinforcements overwhelmed Sharks
The return of top players like Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris and Shane Pinto. Tkachuk was perhaps the most impactful of the three. The perennial pest played 17:48 and scored the game-tying goal on the power play. Tkachuk was also adept at getting under the Sharks’ skins.
Vitek Vanecek and Brady Tkachuk were mixing it up so Linus Ullmark skated to centre ice 👀 pic.twitter.com/zQaFrZ1Y7Z
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 2, 2025
As for Pinto, he was there to open the scoring for the Senators. Pinto scored the first goal of the game, a short-handed goal.
While Norris didn’t have the best game, the work of Tkachuk and Pinto more than made up for it, helping the Senators snap the team’s five-game losing skid.
Will Smith heating up
Will Smith seems to be finding his way in the NHL. The 19-year-old (he’ll be 20 in a few weeks), scored a goal and an assist in last night’s game against the Senators and now has 13 points in his last 13 games.
Many had worried how Smith would fare with the loss of Mikael Granlund, the team’s second line center. With Alex Wennberg moving into the role and Fabian Zetterlund on the wing, the team still seems to be doing well. The trio had a 65% Corsi for last night, the best on the team.
In the last four games, the Sharks’ second line has done the following at 5-on-5.
| Game | TOI | Corsi For % at 5v5 |
| 2/23/25 vs. Calgary Flames | 7:43 | 78.57% |
| 2/24/25 vs. Winnipeg Jets | 8:34 | 46.67% |
| 2/27/25 vs. Montreal Canadiens | 13:18 | 47.83% |
| 3/1/25 vs. Ottawa Senators | 10:12 | 65.00% |
Prior to that, Wennberg was on the injured list. This combination of Smith and Wennberg appears to be one that management wants to keep. As it looks now, the success is there; it just needs to happen more consistently.
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Ottawa Senators March 1, 2025
First Period
11:05 OTT Shane Pinto shorthanded from Ridly Greig
Second Period
5:17 SJS Tyler Toffoli from Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini on the power play
9:47 SJS Timothy Liljegren from Alex Wennberg and Klim Kostin on the power play
Third Period
1:26 OTT Brady Tkachuk from Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson on the power play
3:00 OTT Tim Stutzle from Ridly Greig
8:31 OTT David Perron from Thomas Chabot and Drake Batherson
18:33 SJS Will Smith from William Eklund and Macklin Celebrini on the power play
19:00 OTT Michael Amadio from Artem Zub into an empty net
