Goaltenders with no love loss (left) the Florida Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky and (right) the San Jose Sharks Alex Nedeljkovic were throwing until Bobrovsky fell to the ice at Sunrise Fl on Mon Jan 19, 2026 (NBC Sports Bay Area still)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks (25-20-3) won 4-1 against the Florida Panthers (25-20-3) Monday. Will Smith, Vincent Desharnais, Mario Ferraro and Barcay Goodrow scored for the Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic made 35 saves for the win. Eetu Luostarinen scored for the Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves in the loss.

Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais was playing his first game after a long recovery from injury. After the game, he said: “It was a lot. After two months, coming back, having a game like that with penalties, goals, and goalie fight, just lots of hits too, it was a physical game. I think there’s no better game to get back into it.”

Desharnais went more into depth about the goalie fight, describing his perspective on the event:

“I tripped a guy, then I got hit from behind, I was on the ice just trying not to get stepped on and I got up and I just see Ned and Bob going at it and I was like ‘did I miss something here?’ It was a great fight. I don’t think [Reaves] needs to teach him anything.”

Before all that excitement, the game was more sedate. The Panthers outshot the Sharks 10-8 in a scoreless first period. Each team had one power play in the period.

Will Smith started a Sharks scoring spree just 50 seconds into the second period. Smith caught a rebound right in front of the net after a Tim Liljegren shot. An assist also went to Alexander Wennberg.

Vincent Desharnais doubled it up at 2:41 with a wrist shot from just outside the blue paint. He also caught a rebound, this one from Igor Chernyshov’s shot. An assist also went to Michael Misa.

Mario Ferraro made it 3-0 at 6:12. Skating in behind the play, Ferraro caught a rebound in the slot after a Chernyshov shot. The second assist went to Misa, again.

The shots for the second period were 11-9 Sharks. Each team again had one power play.

The Panthers hot on the board 43 seconds into the third period. Aaron Ekblad intercepted a Sharks clearing attempt and then passed it up to Luostatrinen on the blue line for the shot.

At 6:00 of the third, the game stalled for several penalties including a goalie fight. Bobrovsky went down and then left the ice briefly. Daniil Tarasov took the net but then left the ice without getting any play time as Bobrovsky was able to return. It was the first fight for either goaltender. The Sharks ended up with a penalty to kill.

The Panthers predictably pushed hard in the third, outshooting the Sharks 17-9, but they did not score again. Instead, Barclay Goodrow scored one into an empty net at 17:21 to make it 4-1.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Tampa against the Lightning at 4:00 PM PT.