Overtime goal sinks San Jose Sharks as homestand comes to an end
SAN JOSE – Bo Horvat scored 4:20 into overtime to lift the New York Islanders to a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Horvat took a pass from Matthew Schaefer, sped past Sharks defenseman Sam Dickinson, and beat goalie Yaroslav Askarov for his 37th goal of the season.
With the overtime loss, the Sharks finish their six-game homestand with a 3-1-2 record. They start a five-game road trip on Tuesday in Buffalo.
The Sharks entered Saturday two points back of the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Macklin Celebrini scored for the fourth time in five games. Askarov stopped 16 of 17 shots in the first two periods and 32 saves.
Askarov was coming off a 31-save performance in the Sharks’ 7-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, and
The Sharks, haunted by puck management issues in their 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday, played a decent first period against the Islanders but still trailed 1-0.
Calum Ritchie carried the puck into the Sharks’ zone, curled, and found a trailing Tony DeAngelo, who skated to his right and put a wrist shot on net that Askarov couldn’t handle with his glove as the Islanders took a 1-0 lead.
The Sharks got that goal back 33 seconds into the second period.
John Klingberg controlled a puck that had been sent around the boards and fed Will Smith near the goal line to the right of the Islanders’ net. Celebrini, having created some time and space for himself, took a pass from Smith and fired a shot past Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin for his 32nd goal of the season.
Celebrini entered Saturday with 88 points and three goals and four assists in the first five games of the Sharks’ homestand.
Saturday’s game marked the second time this season that Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, faced the No. 1 overall selection in this past year’s draft, Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer.
Before Saturday, Schaefer had 20 goals and 45 points in 63 games as he led the Islanders with an average of 24:11 in ice time per game. The Sharks had the best draft lottery odds (18.5%) after finishing in 32nd place in the NHL standings last season, but the Islanders, with a 3.5% chance, won the right to select Schaefer.
“Elusive, dynamic, gets up the ice, plays with swagger. He’s obviously going to be a very special defenseman for a long time,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said before Saturday’s game. “It seems like he’s got that ability to drag guys into the fight at a young age.”
KURASHEV SCRATCHED
Philipp Kurashev had assists in three of the last four games on this homestand but was a healthy scratch Saturday as coach Ryan Warsofsky inserted Ryan Reaves into the lineup to face the Islanders.
Warsofsky said Kurashev has played well, but wanted to bring some fresh legs into the lineup in a back-to-back situation. Reaves hasn’t played since Feb. 26, when the Sharks lost 4-1 to the Calgary Flames to open the homestand.
Kurashev assisted on Kiefer Sherwood’s third-period game-winning goal in the Sharks’ 7-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. On Friday against the St. Louis Blues, Kurashev also set up Sherwood’s third-period game-tying goal, before the Sharks lost 3-2 in overtime.
In the first five games of the Sharks’ homestand, Kurashev, who also plays on the Sharks’ second power play unit, had three assists and averaged 16 minutes in ice time.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Sherwood said. “There’s a reason he was in the Olympics, right? He’s got some great poise, so I’ve got to do a good job, too, of finding him when he gets open. But he’s a great player, has a high IQ, and has shown that for a while.”