San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) makes a stop on the Tampa Bay Lightning center Zemgus Girgensons (28) in the second period at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa FL on Tue Jan 20, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday 4-1. Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay, with two goals from Hagel. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli scored for the Sharks and Yaroslav Askarov made 16 saved in the loss.

Tyler Toffoli deflected a William Eklund shot to score at 14:37 of the first period. An assist went to Alexander Wennberg as well. That was the only Sharks goal of the game.

Brandon Hagel tied it less than a minute later, tipping a pass from Anthony Cirelli. An assist went to Nikita Kucherov.

The Sharks outshot Tampa Bay 9-6 in the first and there were no penalties called.

Cirelli scored at 1:49 of the second, poking the puck past Askarov. Assists went to Hagel and Kucherov.

Jake Guentzel scored at 3:17 with a wrist shot off a centering pass from Dominic James. Gage Goncalves got the secondary assist.

The shots were 7-5 Lightning in the second. Each team took a single penalty. In the third, the shots were 9-7 Sharks and no penalties were called.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender with 3:47 left. The puck bounced over a Sharks stick at the Lightning blue line. Hagel and Guentzel skated after it uncontested and Hagel shot it into the empty net. J.J. Moser got the secondary assist.

The Sharks next play on Friday back in San Jose against the New York Rangers at 7:00 PM PT.