Hi friends! Damian Pow is a new writer to Fear the Fin so give him a warm welcome!
The San Jose Sharks fought hard but fell short 3-2 in a preseason tilt against an NHL-ready Anaheim Ducks team. The two teams took different approaches to the roster choices for this game, Anaheim opting for the more NHL-ready roster loaded with veterans that have played over 800 NHL games such as Chris Kreider, Mikael Granlund and captain Radko Gudas, while San Jose’s most experienced player was Philip Kurashev with 317 NHL games played. This did not seem to bother the young Sharks, as they showed heart and played with some promising flashes until the last whistle during the preseason test.
First Period
While the score ended even through one period, the Ducks were starting to expose some of the younger Sharks’ defensemen by forcing turnovers and keeping the puck in the zone for extended periods. Even strength shots were equal through one period, largely in part to Ty Dellandrea, who started the game fast, shooting at every opportunity he got as part of his larger goal of earning more playing time on the big club this year.
The Ducks also did a good job throughout the game of keeping the Sharks’ offensive zone action towards the perimeter, limiting slot chances and giving the team’s goalie more room to make saves. At no point was Ducks goaltender Ville Husso under extreme duress for more than brief periods, and I would have liked to see more crash and bang towards the net to try and make the opponent’s goalie work harder.
Second Period
After a slower first period, action picked up in the second. Pavel Regenda started the period with a strong clean hit on old Shark forward Granlund behind the Sharks’ net, causing a 10-man wrestling match. While the Sharks did come out of that scuffle with a power play, the team failed to generate any real chances on it, instead giving up some odd-man rushes for the shorthanded Ducks. When Regenda found himself in the penalty box later in the frame, the Ducks’ Cutter Gauthier scored after the Sharks couldn’t clear the puck and got stuck flat-footed on the penalty kill.
The game quickly started to get out of hand after Shakir Mukhamadullin was left trying to defend all alone behind the Sharks’ net, leading to another Ducks goal less than a minute later. With about 10 minutes left in the second period, Sharks goalie Jakub Skarek was given no chance on a 2-on-1 by the Ducks, making it three unanswered goals by the Ducks in less than three minutes.
The Sharks seemed to wake up from that point on, and it became the Mukhamadullin and Luca Cagnoni show for the Sharks. Mukhamadullin earned the primary assist on a shot that left his stick at the point and hit off Pavel Regenda’s skate in front of the net to cut the deficit to two before the end of the period. Props to Regenda for being a pest in front of the net for that goal to happen.
Third Period
After taking over in net halfway through the second period as was originally planned, Gabriel Carriere went on to stop every one of the 14 shots he faced and showed composure behind a Sharks team that did its best to protect him from dangerous chances better than it did for Skarek. Cagnoni and Mukhamadullin continued to make plays for the Sharks on both ends of the ice, breaking up 2-on-1s, clearing the puck, and leading by example with their effort to end the game.
After getting hemmed in for a long shift, Adam Gaudette gave a monstrous effort to power through some Ducks defenders for a gritty 3-2 goal in what will surely get Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky’s attention after comments late last week about team effort making up for mistakes. For the last four minutes of the game after Gaudette’s goal, the inexperienced Sharks roster did what it could with the goalie pulled, but ultimately fell short of tying the game.
For the rest of the Sharks’ preseason games, I would expect Warsofsky to start mixing in more NHL-ready players as the regular season gets closer, like what the Ducks did tonight. For a team that was outmatched from the beginning, the Sharks did a good job of refusing to quit or let the 3-0 run in three minutes by the Ducks get out of hand.
Player Shoutouts
Mukhamadullin was the team’s #1 defenseman last night and was entirely deserving of the ice time he received. During the team high 21 minutes and 59 seconds he proved that he could hold his own against NHL competition in a bigger role, and he should be a reliable mainstay in the Sharks’ top 4 this season.
Cagnoni showed off his skill and quick feet multiple times to get the team out of trouble. His defending has improved since last year as well, and with more time in the AHL he will soon show that he can be a full-time NHL player.
Ethan Cardwell will never be a first-line player, but he will always give 100% on every shift. Every time he was on the ice last night, you could easily distinguish him from others because he was the blur moving around the ice like a pinball at full speed, only improving his stock as a future do-it-all guy for the Sharks.
First goal (Regenda):
Second goal (Gaudette):
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks Sept. 29, 2025
First period
No scoring
Second period
6:22 ANA Cutter Gauthier unassisted goal on the power play
7:09 ANA Radko Gudas assisted by Sam Colangelo and Nikita Nesterenko
9:13 ANA Frank Vatrano from Tyson Hinds and Ryan Strome
13:29 SJS Pavol Regenda from Shakir Mukhamadullin and Oliver Wahlstrom
Third period
15:59 SJS Adam Gaudette from Shane Bowers
