Late goals help Sharks beat L.A. Kings for second straight win
SAN JOSE — Tyler Toffoli scored the game-winning goal with 8:58 left in regulation time, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Tuesday for their second straight victory after starting the season with nine consecutive losses.
Toffoli took a pass from Jake Walman and beat Kings goalie David Rittich from in close for his sixth goal of the season, as the Sharks won their first game at SAP Center.
Fabian Zetterlund, William Eklund and Walman also scored for San Jose, which was coming off a dramatic 5-4 overtime win over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday in Salt Lake City.
“A win’s a win. Doesn’t matter where it is. We want to win hockey games here,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Proud of the guys tonight in the back-to-back effort, the way we performed, the way we showed up, and how we worked was how it should look.”
Walman had three points against Utah and three more against the Kings. His goal in the second period was the first by a Sharks defenseman this season,
“I think we can all contribute. We’ve all individually done it in the past,” Walman said of the Sharks’ defense corps. “I think anytime we can help the forwards out, the biggest thing is just getting it up to them. We have so many skilled forwards.”
Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves, including 17 in the second period, to earn his first victory with the Sharks, who continue their homestand Thursday against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.
On the Sharks’ first goal, Carl Grundstrom won a faceoff back to Walman, whose shot from just inside the blue line got past Kings goalie David Rittich at the 2:20 mark of the second period.
But the Kings controlled most of the second period, when the Sharks took three minor penalties, including two bench infractions: one for delay of game, puck over glass, and unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Sharks killed all three penalties, plus two in the first period, but were outshot 19-6 in the middle frame. After Walman’s goal, the Sharks didn’t get another shot on net until Mikael Granlund’s breakaway chance was stopped by Rittich with 5:29 left in the period.
In between Sharks shots, the Kings had 13 straight shots on goal.
The game marked the NHL debut of forward Ethan Cardwell, who was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda after the Sharks put Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve with an upper-body ailment.
Dellandrea sustained an upper-body injury on Saturday in the Sharks’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He did not practice the following day or play in Monday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club, as the Sharks staged a dramatic comeback to earn a 5-4 overtime win for their first victory of the season.
Dellandrea, 24, will have to be on IR for at least seven days, retroactive to Sunday, and will also have to sit for upcoming games against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. He is not expected to be out long-term.
Cardwell, 22, had an impressive training camp and had five points (one goal, four assists) in six games this season for the Barracuda. On Saturday against the Henderson Silver Knights, Cardwell had a goal and two assists with a plus-4 rating in a 5-3 Barracuda win.
The Sharks selected Cardwell, now in his second professional season, in the fourth round, 121st overall, in 2021. Last season, Cardwell led the Barracuda with 23 goals in 71 games and was fourth on the team with 43 points.
Cardwell had 7:10 of ice time in the first two periods as he and the Sharks helped kill off five minor penalties.
Midway through the second period, Cardwell had the puck as the Sharks entered the Kings’ zone on a 3-on-1. But an attempted cross-ice pass from Cardwell to Carl Grundstrom was knocked away, as the Sharks didn’t come away with a shot on the golden opportunity.
Cardwell joined childhood friend Jack Thompson in the Sharks’ lineup Tuesday. The two grew up close to each other in Courtice, Ontario, dreaming of playing together in the NHL one day.
That became possible after the Sharks acquired Thompson and a 2024 third round draft pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning last March for Anthony Duclair.
“We grew up a one-minute walk from each other’s houses, playing hockey together from age 7 to probably 16, and then went our separate ways in the OHL,” Thompson told Bay Area News Group about growing up with Cardwell.
“When I got traded here, that was the first thing we talked about: how cool that would be for us, our families, and even our friends. I think everyone in our hometown would be pretty excited about that.”
Cardwell and Thompson are roommates and rode to the rink together Tuesday for the first time as NHL teammates.
“Just can’t really believe it’s happening and playing on the same team in the NHL after growing up for years and years playing minor hockey together,” Cardwell said before the game. “(Courtice) as a whole, it’s a big hockey town. People love hockey and rally together around hockey, and that’s how we made so many of our friends growing up.
“So to make the community and the town proud means a lot to us.”
With Cardwell, Thompson, and Will Smith all playing Tuesday, Klim Kostin, Givani Smith, and Henry Thrun were all scratched. Warsofsky said Thrun hasn’t been playing poorly but felt a night off would help him recalibrate.
“Reset Henry a little bit,” Warsofsky said. “I think he’s done some really good things. He’s grown in some areas. He’s still got a little ways to go, but I wouldn’t say it’s a big negative that he’s coming out of the lineup.”