The San Jose Sharks are set to play their second and final game at the 2026 Rookie Faceoff.
With a new season around the corner, it seems like as good of a time as any to try something new. With the San Jose Sharks' second and final game in the Rookie Faceoff set to begin in just a couple of hours, we're going to attempt to do a live blog and potentially carry throughout the 2026-27 season.
2:50 PM: With the puck set to drop in just over two hours, let's take a look at the Sharks' projected lines for tonight:
Ivar Stenberg - Filip Bystedt - Igor Chernyshov
Quentin Musty - Andrew Gasseau - Carson Wetsch
Jake Gustafson - Aurelio Garcia - Brendan Hoffman
Pavel Martinu - Samuel Huo - Jordan Bax
_____________________________________________________
Phillip Sinn - Eric Pohlkamp
Alexander Karmanov - Tristan Sarsland
Thomas Messineo - Mack Oliphant
Jake Boltmann
_____________________________________________________
Matt Davis
Connor Hasley
Notably Michael Misa and Brady Knowling will be healthy scratches following last night's game. Cam Lund remains out due to an upper-body injury suffered against the Los Angeles Kings last night as well.
4:39 PM - Sharks released new lineups without Filip Bystedt, who appears to be a late scratch:
4:57 PM: Karmanov nearly gets left behind. He was apparently running late to take the ice and almost had the door closed in his face.
First Period:
5:01 PM: Puck drops and the game is underway! Stenberg, Gasseau, Chernyshov, Sinn, and Pohlkamp on the ice to start.
17:40 (remaining) Utah was strong out of the gate, controlling quite a bit of puck possession, but unable to get a shot on goal in the opening minutes. Quentin Musty took a puck to the face. Got to his feet under his own power, but immediately went down the tunnel.
16:49: Wetsch throws a big hit on Vadim Moroz, Tomas Lavoie immediately steps up to drop the gloves. Utah gets a minor penalty on top of the fighting major and misconduct, served by Andrei Molgachev.
14:49: Utah kills off the penalty successfully.
~14:30: Bad turnover by Phillip Sinn in the defensive zone. Handed Utah a scoring chance, but the Mammoth missed the net. Musty back on the ice.
11:30: Matt Davis is moving around quite a bit, but his defense is helping him out quite a bit by blocking shots. Utah just now gets their first shot on goal.
7:25: Musty takes a hard hit in the corner, referee's arm comes up and the Sharks are going to be heading back to the power play. Wetsch steps up to drop the gloves with Gregor Biber in retaliation for the hit. The officials take some time to figure out the penalties, but it appears Wetsch received a game misconduct and is done for the night. Musty appears good to go, remains on the ice.
6:12: Daniil But creates a bunch of space for himself with a nice move around the blue line, but loses the puck on the breakaway preventing a strong scoring chance for the Mammoth.
5:55: Former Jr. Shark Jake Gustafson opens the scoring with a one-timer off a pass from behind the net by Brendan Hoffman
4:22: Mammoth now up to three shots on goal, but they're heading to the power play after Pavel Martinu was called for tripping.
2:43: Sharks going to be heavily short-handed for 22 seconds as Hoffman now makes his way to the box for slashing.
2:22: Back to 5-on-4 as Martinu exits the penalty box.
1:50: Pohlkamp is doing a great job at clearing the puck out on the PK, killing off a lot of time.
1:26: Molgachev ties it up with a shot from point-blank range.
1.5 seconds: Gustafson gets his second of the night just before the end of the period, restoring the Sharks' lead.
All-in-all, strong period for the Sharks. They started off a bit slow, allowing Utah to dictate the run of play, but were solid defensively and blocked a number of dangerous shots. Gustafson appears to be right at home against this level of competition. Davis has looked solid, but too small of a sample size to judge.
Second Period:
19:00: Nice zone entry by Stenberg, quality shot but wide of the net.
14:04: Not much going on besides end-to-end cardio, but the Chernyshov and Stenberg duo have been generating a few chances and are entertaining to say the least.
11:09: Jordan Bax just bear-hugged Artem Duda and hauled him down, sending the Sharks to the penalty kill
9:09: Sharks have successfully killed off the penalty, despite Utah hitting the post.
7:25: Stenberg had a breakaway but attempted to force a pass to Martinu, who got the puck tangled in his feet, rather than taking the shot. Making the extra pass is generally a good call, but that's a learning moment for sure.
5:57: Gustafson draws a hooking penalty and the Sharks make a goaltending swap as Connor Hasley takes over for Matt Davis. Utah sticks with Michael Hrabel.
5:49: Pohlkamp almost ended the power play immediately, but was denied with the sound of iron echoing throughout the arena.
4:48: Another solid play by Pohlkamp to keep the puck in the offensive zone, resulted in another chance for the Sharks.
2:30: Hasley seems ready to go despite entering the game cold, made a couple important saves.
:42 Good effort by Aurelio Garcia to get the puck away from Hrabel behind the net. While nothing came of it, could've generated a dangerous scoring chance.
Less eventful period on paper, but the teams were shooting quite a bit more. Utah led shots on goal 20-13, but the Sharks still lead where it matters most 2-1.
Third Period
17:52: Karmanov's extra reach came in handy as he helped deflect a puck out of play as Utah tried to attack.
16:32: Samuel Huo gets taken down on a partial breakaway and collides with Hrabel. Both appear to be fine.
12:55: Karmanov's shot needs a bit of work it seems, as his shot from the blue line had little power behind it. Moments later though, he showed why his size is massively beneficial in the defensive zone by breaking up another rush by the Mammoth.
8:01: Still 2-1, not much else to say at the moment.
7:15: Chernyshov gets tripped up by Biber, Sharks back to the power play. The Sharks also opted to call their timeout.
6:10 Sharks are applying considerable pressure on Hrabel, but unable to beat the Utah netminder. Utah clears, but Sharks resume their attack immediately.
4:23: Nearly a big blunder by Hasley, but he's able to prevent a costly turnover in front of the net with a well-placed poke-check. Certainly a moment he'd like back.
~3:00 Stenberg gets a breakaway, unable to convert on the chance.
1:55 Sharks attempt to advance the puck toward the empty net, but ice it instead.
1:31 Hrabel back in the net for defensive zone faceoff, Sharks apply immediate pressure to keep him there.
:59: Empty net as Utah is called for offside, Mammoth call timeout.
:36: Puck knocked out of play as the Sharks attempt to exit the defensive zone.
:29: Musty scores from the Sharks' defensive faceoff circle to double the Sharks' lead with an empty-net goal.
While the Sharks weren't as dominant tonight as they were against the Los Angeles Kings last night, they had another solid game and sent the fans home happy as they swept the 2026 Rookie Faceoff. Next stop: Training Camp.


