The San Jose Sharks hosted the Dallas Stars on the first day of a back-to-back against two hard hitting, highly skilled teams, with the Vegas Golden Knights coming tomorrow. Coming off two exhilarating wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings that put them in sole possession of the first wild card spot in the West, the Sharks had a challenge ahead of them: have a good showing against a good team. The Sharks have been beating the teams in the middle of the pack, but when it comes to good teams this season, they have a tendency to lay an egg and get heavily outplayed.
First period
The Sharks did what it was supposed to out of the gate. The players came out structured, calm, and confident, led by Macklin Celebrini and Igor Chernyshov. That is, until Vincent Iorio hesitated for about three seconds at the offensive blue line, only for Justin Hryckowian to pick his pocket and score on the ensuing breakaway.
After a power play that resulted in zero shots on goal, the Sharks’ top line got a puck past the Stars’ goalie Casey DeSmith that was pushed away by a Stars’ defenseman, keeping the Sharks scoreless. The Stars top line responded to the Sharks push, with Mikko Rantanen causing trouble in front of Alex Nedeljkovic’s crease, only for Jason Robertson score on a wide-open goal with about a minute to go in the period.
Second period
The second period emphasized special teams, with five minor penalties between the two teams. The Sharks were able to capitalize twice on the PP, while the Stars only scored one goal 5-on-5. The Sharks’ two PP goals were on the same set play, just with different players involved. The first involved Celebrini handing a beautiful backhand pass from the goal line to Alex Wennberg, who wasted no time in putting it over DeSmith’s shoulder to make it 2-1, giving Macklin another game on his already legendary point streak.
The second PP goal involved Chernyshov and Jeff Skinner, again a pass from the goal line to a player driving the net, making it 2-2 and getting the tank rocking.
The Stars pulled in front before the end of the period after a breakaway goal by Kyle Capobianco that originated from the Sharks’ F3 not recognizing the defense pinching and failing to cover back on defense in time.
Third period
Starting the third down 3-2 and on a penalty was not ideal. While it was not during the penalty, the Stars did score shortly after it ended when Rantanen batted the puck out of midair and past Nedeljkovic. Even though Dallas lost, the Stars played about as good a road game as you could hope for. The team started to quiet the Tank and went into the last 10 minutes of the game with a 2-goal lead.
You know what they say about 2-goal leads, they’re the most dangerous lead in hockey (doesn’t really make sense since it’s more of a lead than 1 goal, but let’s go with it). The Sharks needed a spark to get back into the game, and Toffoli gave it to them, scoring on the PP, thereby igniting the tank and starting the Sharks’ comeback.
With five minutes left in the game, Sam Dickinson showed off his excellent vision, finding Adam Gaudette slip open behind the cluster of players crowding DeSmith for an easy redirection and a goal.
Suddenly, the game was tied, the Tank was loud, and the Sharks had their mojo back. Nedeljkovic helped the Sharks avoid disaster by standing up to a breakaway in the last minute, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime
Overtime with the young Sharks never disappoints, and today was no different. Rantanen tried to muscle his way through three Sharks players before failing and getting a penalty for holding Wennberg after he lost the puck.
The Sharks were able to keep the team’s PP dominance going and ended the game on a classic one-timer slapshot from Toffoli. The Sharks completed the comeback to beat the second-best team in the NHL to catapult them out of the wild card, and into the last Pacific Division playoff spot, only one point behind Vegas for the lead (tune in tomorrow for a must watch).
The power of belief
The Sharks believe in themselves, and they have made that abundantly clear. “There’s a big belief in that dressing room right now… we can play with the best of them,” said Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky after the win, conveying how the Sharks go into every game knowing they can win.
Adam Gaudette said so as well: “We like playing good teams, we like beating good teams … [because] we’re a good team.”
The Sharks believe in themselves in a way that has not been seen since the last time the Sharks made the playoffs in 2019. With a franchise player like Celebrini casually getting 3 points every night, how could you not have confidence?
Player shoutouts
Chernyshov: Since getting called up, Igor Chernyshov has been playing with confidence and swagger. Getting to play on a line with Celebrini and Eklund has given him the opportunity to score goals and prove that he has the talent to stay in the NHL for the foreseeable future.
Gaudette: Getting Gaudette back from injury has given the team more secondary scoring and physicality that they were lacking while he was out of the lineup. It cannot always be the Celebrini show, and Gaudette is an excellent option that Warsofsky can trust every night. Gaudette is now on a five-game point streak (3g, 3A).
Toffoli: Toffoli is starting to feel himself again after a scoring drought. With two goals today, he is again demonstrating his prowess as a clutch veteran NHL goal scorer.
Scoring summary Dallas Stars at San Jose Sharks Jan. 10, 2026
First period
7:33 DAL Justin Hryckowian unassisted
19:03 DAL Jason Robertson from Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz
Second Period
4:44 SJS Alex Wennberg from Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli on the power play
14:49 SJS Jeff Skinner from Igor Chernyshov and Adam Gaudette on the power play
19:01 DAL Kyle Capobianco from Mavrik Bourque and Jason Robertson
Third period
7:53 DAL Mikko Rantanen from Sam Steel and Nils Lundkvist
9:28 SJS Tyler Toffoli from Macklin Celebrini and Dmitry Orlov on the power play
15:01 SJS Adam Gaudette from Sam Dickinson and Collin Graf
Overtime
1:58 SJS Tyler Toffoli from William Eklund and Macklin Celebrini on the power play
