The San Jose Sharks had been circling around a win for a few games now. The Sharks almost beat the Montreal Canadiens last Thursday. The team came close to beating the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 24. Both games were lost in overtime. But somehow, the Sharks couldn’t find that extra little help the team needed to win. Last night, the players did, roaring back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in the shootout.
The Maple Leafs were an admittedly tired team. It was the second night of back to backs for the Maple Leafs. Less than 24 hours earlier, the team was playing in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. Not only did the Leafs have to travel back to Toronto, but San Jose was already there waiting for them.
Whatever the case, Sharks fans should be proud that the worst team in the league managed to keep pace with the Maple Leafs for the entirety of the game as exhibited by Natural Stat Trick’s game flow chart.
True team effort
This game was a true team effort. Jack Thompson produced the secondary scoring and spark that the Sharks needed to get back into the game. Alex Wennberg contributed primary assists on both of the Sharks’ goals. Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin also had an assist.
Wennberg’s helper on Tyler Toffoli’s game-tying goal was especially impressive.
Alex Wennberg turns on the jets and finds Tyler Toffoli to knot this game up at two apiece! 🪢
— NHL (@NHL) March 4, 2025
📺: @SportsOnPrimeCA ➡️ https://t.co/93veFI9jrZ pic.twitter.com/vySktB5UZK
Most of all, the Sharks got the goaltending the team needed in the net. Alexandar Georgiev faced 27 shots and finished the night with a .926 save percentage. More than that, while he allowed two goals, his expected goals against was 3.24.
Georgiev made big saves when the Sharks needed it, including this one on William Nylander.
Nylander takes it to the net pic.twitter.com/uRDxN8NR5M
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 4, 2025
He was also extremely good in the shootout, stopping Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Only Nylander beat him.
Lineup adjustments in the third period
Credit is also due to Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky, who decided to shake things up in the third period. Leading into the third, Warsofsky had gone with the tried and true lines of William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini and Toffoli as the first line and Fabian Zetterlund, Wennberg and Will Smith as the second line. In the third, he swapped centers.
| Line Combination | TOI | Corsi For % |
| Eklund – Celebrini – Toffoli | 7:10 | 33.33% |
| Zetterlund – Wennberg – Smith | 6:30 | 41.67% |
| Zetterlund – Celebrini – Smith | 5:58 | 78.57% |
| Eklund – Wennberg – Toffoli | 3:49 | 57.14% |
The difference between the performance of the two sets of lines was astounding. The ability of the Sharks to turn the tide at 5v5 play appears to be due largely to that change in the line combinations.
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Toronto Maple Leafs March 3, 2025
First Period
No goals
Second Period
8:28 TOR John Tavares from Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the power play
19:55 TOR Matthew Knies from Auston Matthews and John Tavares on the power play
Third Period
2:23 SJS Jack Thompson from Alex Wennberg and William Eklund
10:10 SJS Tyler Toffoli from Alex Wennberg and Shakir Mukhamadullin
