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Quick bites: Sennecke, Ducks top Sharks 6-2

Posted on by Erika Towne

The San Jose Sharks didn’t send much of a regular-season lineup down to Southern California for the team’s first preseason game of the 2026-27 season. Looking at the rosters leading into the game, it looked like all the makings of a potential mess, with the Anaheim Ducks icing top players like Jackson LaCombe and Stian Solberg on the backend and Leo Carlsson, Beckette Sennecke, Cutter Gauthier and Roger McQueen up front. Meanwhile, the salary of the entire Sharks’ roster in SoCal barely added up to Carlsson’s new salary.

And it showed on the scoreboard. When the final horn sounded, the Ducks had handily beaten the Sharks 6-2. It was Anaheim’s big guns who made the Sharks pay. Sennecke finished the game with a natural hat trick, while Carlsson and LaCombe each had a goal and an assist.

While the score in preseason means little in the grand scheme of things, there are things that we can learn from these games as we head into the season.

Signing Ilya Samsonov was important for the Sharks

One of those things was the importance of signing Ilya Samsonov a few weeks ago when goaltender Kyle Keyser’s long-term injury popped up. Watching young Matt Davis in net against the Ducks’ top line showed that the 25-year-old is still very young and raw.

Davis played half of the game and stopped 12 of the 16 shots that he faced. It wasn’t a great outing for the young goaltender, and there were some goals that you would have liked to see him stop.

Take, for example, this goal by Sennecke in the second period. The puck is moved to the top of the offensive zone, and it doesn’t look like Davis gets into the correct position fast enough to make the save.

Sennecke winds up, making it evident what he’s going to do. And, at least from the angle in this video, it looks like the sight lines in front of Davis are clear.

Then there’s this goal from Sennecke. Yes, he’s a very good player, but you would have liked Davis to win on that breakaway, especially considering it looked like he read the play correctly.

Davis didn’t play any preseason games last season and spent most of his time playing with the Wichita Thunder in the ECHL. While he might get more time in the AHL this season, it’s pretty clear that the Sharks know he cannot be the AHL starter, and he certainly cannot be an option at the NHL level if there’s an injury.

Sharks highlights, of sorts

The Sharks didn’t have much going on the scoreboard, and there were very few players who stood out. Carson Wetsch had a breakaway, though he was stopped by Laurent Brossoit. Brossoit also stopped a 2-on-0 with relative ease. Overall, the Sharks had little in the way of offense or sustained pressure outside of the first period.

That said, there were a few plays that would make the highlight reel. Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, who is an outside chance to make the opening night roster. Pohlkamp scored the first goal of the preseason.

He finished off a pass from Ethan Cardwell by driving down the middle and to the net. Look for those two to connect a lot with the Barracuda this season.

In the net, goaltender Eric Comrie kept things close for the first 30 minutes or so of the game until he traded places with Davis. It was 2-1 when Comrie’s night was over.

Right after Comrie left the ice, Jimmy Huntington briefly tied the game for the Sharks.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.

We’ll give final credit to Andre Gasseau, who showed off that toughness that the Sharks were looking for when the team traded for him in the spring. Gasseau dropped the gloves with Travis Mitchell.

Highlight of the night

And while we’re loathe to do it, the highlight of the night has to come from the Ducks’ Carlsson, who decided to walk through all five Sharks on the ice and then roof it on Comrie. Sometimes you just get beat.

Scoring summary: San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks Sept. 20, 2026

First period
1:37 SJS Eric Pohlkamp from Ethan Cardwell
2:57 ANA Jackson LaCombe from Cutter Gauthier and Tristan Luneau
6:07 ANA Leo Carlsson from Drew Helleson and Nikita Klepov

Second period
11:05 SJS Jimmy Huntington from Brett Leason
12:15 ANA Beckett Sennecke from Leo Carlsson and Jackson LaCombe on the power play
16:07 ANA Beckett Sennecke from Tristan Luneau and Nico Myatovic

Third period
8:10 ANA Beckett Sennecke from Mikael Granlund and Nico Myatovic
13:44 ANA Tristan Luneau from Alex Killorn

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