Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. Shakir Mukhamadullin takes his solo lap during warmups (taken on 1/27/24).

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Sharks took on the Sabres Saturday evening looking to extend their winning streak to four.

For the Sharks Kaapo Kahkonen would get the start who came in with a 3.56 GAA and a .902 SV%. While for Buffalo it was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in between the pipes who had a 2.63 GAA and .908%.

It was a special night also for 22-year-old Shakir Mukhamadullin who made his NHL debut tonight after coming over in the Timo Meier trade from New Jersey.

The first period saw the Sharks get offense from a place where they usually don’t get many goals which is the blueline. The first goal in this one would be scored by Marc-Edouard Vlasic as he scored his third of the season.

Following that up was Jan Rutta who scored just a couple minutes later picking up his second of the season. On both goals, William Eklund picked up the primary assists.

Around the 14-minute mark of the period though momentum shifted when Buffalo scored as JJ Peterka shoveled home his 17th of the campaign.

Less than five minutes later Buffalo would tie it on a goal they really had to grind out as Jordan Greenway tapped home a pass from Alex Tuch back door.

In the middle frame that momentum shift did not stop as just 1:36 into the period, Tuch scored his 14th of the season breaking the tie.

After the goal, both team’s offenses slowed down quite a bit, especially in comparison to the high-flying first period.

There would be two penalties in the period one against Buffalo and the other against San Jose but both were killed off.

San Jose would be looking for a comeback in the final frame but did not get off to a great start giving up a goal this time just 4:33 into the period. The fourth unanswered came off the stick of Peterka who got his second of the night on a 3-on-2 rush.

Some clear frustration would boil over for the Sharks as they got into it with Buffalo leading to Kyle Burroughs and Kyle Okposo dropping the gloves.

Looking to spark the comeback David Quinn would pull Kahkonen with more than four minutes left in the period.

That aggression would unfortunately not pay off as after making a slick move to deke out Logan Couture Dylan Cozens scored on the empty cage essentially ending the game.

The win would end the Shark’s winning streak at three but also continues a tradition of the Sharks losing to Buffalo as all-time San Jose is 14-25-9 against the Sabres.

Mukhamadullin had a solid night manning the blueline as he registered one hit and three shots on goal.

The shots in this one favored Buffalo 36-25 and both teams went 0/2 on the power play.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: JJ Peterka 2nd: Casey Middlestadt 3rd: Jordan Greenway

San Jose will look to start a new winning streak when they take on Seattle at home on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.