San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) puts the stop on a puck shot by the Los Angeles Kings in the second period at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Wed Jan 7, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday. Tyler Toffoli, Adam Gaudette, Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 23 saves for the win. Alex Turcotte, Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings. Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves in the loss. The game was the last between the teams for the regular season.

After the game, Macklin Celebrini talked about how the team is feeling:

“You have a feeling in our group, we’re confident in those situations when we’re down 3-2 or tied 2-2 going in late against a really relly good team, a playoff team, so I th8nk it’s a different kind of swagger and feeling in our group.”

After a scoreless first period, the teams were tied or close in almost all respects: shots were 8-6 Kings, the Sharks had one penalty and the Kings none, and the teams were even in faceoff wins.

On their first power play of the game, the Sharks took a 1-0 lead. Tyler Toffoli scored with a wrist shot at 4:10 of the second period. Assists went to Alexander Wennberg and Macklin Celebrini.

The Sharks held that lead for a bit but Alex Turcotte tied the game at 11:34. His wrist shot got through a scrum in front of the net on a second rebound after Askarov made two saves but came out too far. An assist went to Kevin Fiala.

The second period shots were 13-10 Sharks, the penalties were three for Los Angeles and two for San Jose.

Adam Gaudette gave the Sharks another lead by tipping a shot from Timothy Liljegren for a power play goal at 5:38 of the third. Assists went to Liljegren and Jeff Skinner.

Kevin Fiala tied the game back up with a wrist shot about a minute later. Assists went to Turcotte and Joel Edmundson.

Edmundsson was briefly credited with a goal at 12:09. After a review, the goal was called back as Edmundson had knocked the puck into the net with his glove.

The Kings did take the lead at 17:50 with a shot from the blue line tipped by Alex Laferriere. Assists went to Joel Edmunson and Cody Ceci.

Macklin Celebrini tied it up again with a dazzling skill show at 18:53.

The Sharks won with a goal in overtime from William Eklund off a pass from Celebrini.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at home at 1:00 pm PT against the Dallas Stars.