The San Jose Sharks are still searching for that first win of the season and with a game like the one the team played last night, San Jose could be searching for a while. The Sharks were outmatched and outplayed by a much better and much more composed Carolina Hurricanes team that was able to execute where the Sharks were not. What resulted was a 5-1 loss where the Sharks struggled to find footing for most of the game.
Postgame, Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky called it “men vs. boys” and called out the compete from all of the players.
”I just didn’t think we had our juice. We didn’t have any much energy. Didn’t compete hard enough,” said Warsofsky.
He expects that to change quickly.
“We know what it looks like. We got to get back to feeling what it looks like, and doing it consistently,” he said.
Dickinson struggled in his second outing
One of the players who had an especially tough night was rookie Sam Dickinson. He will have a lot of tape to go over when he sits down with the coaching staff over the next few days. A LOT of tape. The young defenseman had a very tough night on defense for the Sharks, one that was topped off with a double minor penalty. Dickinson didn’t intentionally trip Shayne Gostisbehere, but that didn’t stop Alexander Nikishin from delivering a punishing check for the slight. A scrum ensued and Dickinson got an extra two for roughing.
The kid didn’t see another shift after he was released from the box?
But it was rough going for most of the night for other reasons too. Dickinson was on the ice for four of the Hurricanes’ goals, all of them at even strength. It was the little mistakes that the young defenseman made on the plays that he’ll need to learn from as he develops in the league.
For example, on the second goal of the game:
This Alexander Nikishin kid can play, eh? pic.twitter.com/I8WANV2srZ
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 15, 2025
Dickinson is beat by a simple little chip along the boards and suddenly he’s behind the play. He struggles to catch up, which is unusual for the usual smooth skating d-man. He’s behind the play before he knows it and so he’s not back fast enough to try and disrupt the cross ice pass. He’s scrambling then and so he’s bowled over in the crease by William Carrier who is rushing in for that rebound.
Then there’s this goal:
Bussi ➡️ Reilly ➡️ Robinson pic.twitter.com/wi6jvu1QBt
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 15, 2025
A pass up the gut that Dickinson just couldn’t catch up to. It allowed Eric Robinson to get several steps on Dickinson and the kid was cooked. You would have liked Alex Nedeljkovic to maybe bail him out, but in terms of Dickinson’s play, it was tough to watch.
As several people said to me on Twitter, this was Dickinson’s “Welcome to the NHL” game. Hopefully there will be fewer of them as the season wears on but it was pretty clear that the speed of the game against this Carolina team was incredibly overwhelming for him. They came at him at waves and exposed his youth and inexperience. He was bowled over, literally.
My only hope is that the Sharks coaching staff uses this as a learning experience. It’s not time to send him back to the OHL. This is about developing the future of the team and it really feels like Dickinson needs to be here to do that. He needs some time to reflect before he gets back in a game and then we can see how the kid adjusts. It’s too early to send him back.
Missed opportunities
That said you can’t hang the entire game on Dickinson. The whole team was bad and it started out with missed opportunities.
The Sharks had the opportunity to win the game early or, at the very least, give the team some padding against a very good Carolina team. The Sharks had several power play opportunities early in the game. Carolina took three penalties in the first 16 minutes of the first period, giving the Sharks three prime opportunities to take the lead in the game. Yet in all three instances, the Sharks could not seem to create any form of offense, let alone convert on those power play opportunities.
Going into the dressing room without anything to show for it, really just gave Carolina the opportunity to find its footing. By the middle of the first period the Hurricanes had tilted the ice. By the time the second period wrapped up, San Jose was scrambling just to keep up.
In the third, well, that’s all she wrote. Carolina had used its chances, converted on its breakaways to create enough of a lead to put the game away. There wasn’t much else the Hurricanes needed to do. The team had defeated the Sharks mentally, emotionally and on the scoreboard.
Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi differential in all situations, you can see that even with six power plays, the Sharks could not seem to swing momentum in the team’s favor.
Michael Misa makes his NHL debut
The one highlight for Sharks fans was seeing the second overall pick in 2025 make his debut in teal. While the pressure on a forward is a bit less than on a defenseman when it comes to NHL debuts, Misa seemed to have an okay outing for his first go-around. He had 15:06 of ice time, including 3:37 on the power play and he won both of the faceoffs he took last night.
He was on the ice for two of the goals against, including the goal by Shayne Gostisbehere that made it 4-1 in favor of Carolina early in the third period.
Just a little midnight snack pic.twitter.com/gOZWJI6oEy
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 15, 2025
Following the game, the Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka asked Misa about the play.
“I tried to backtrack and probably a split second away from lifting his stick there,” Misa replied. “He ended up scoring, but that’s the game. It’s a game of inches.”
He also knows what he needs to work on as he prepares for the next game.
“I think defensively, I gotta understand that everyone’s a lot bigger and faster, and I gotta do a better job of just ending plays quicker,” said Misa. “I think when the puck’s in the offensive zone, that’s when I’m most dangerous, but in order to get there, I gotta defend harder.”
Highlight
We always love it when William Eklund scores and tonight was no different. Eky with the equalizer gave the Sharks life and helped, for a moment, make it seem like the Sharks were going to stick with the Hurricanes or at least hold on for the ride.
Eky evens it up 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gARO2N47gL
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 15, 2025
Scoring summary Carolina Hurricanes at San Jose Sharks Oct. 14, 2025
First period
No scoring
Second period
1:24 CAR Sean Walker from Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis
4:38 SJS William Eklund from Tyler Toffoli and Nick Leddy
14:14 CAR William Carrier from Alexander Nikishin and Jordan Martinook
18:39 CAR Eric Robinson from Mike Reilly
Third Period
1:52 CAR Shayne Gostisbehere from Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall
7:25 CAR Jackson Blake from Jalen Chatfield and Logan Stankoven
