Tag: Collin Graf

Sharks Lose 4-1 to Flyers, Graf Scores Lone Sharks Goal

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Philadelphia Flayers Travis Konecny scored his 500th career goal against the San Jose Sharks on Tue Dec 9, 2025 at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday. Christian Dvorak, Carl Grundstrom, Noah Cates and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers. Dan Vladar made saves for the win. Collin Graf scored the only Sharks goal and Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves in the loss.

After scoring first, the Sharks gave up four goals to the Flyers. After the game, Sharks forward Ryan Reaves said: “You can’t win in this league not playing in your structure. And we show it every other game right now. That’s why we’re just kind of middle of the pack right now and I think we know we should be a little bit higher.”

Alexander Wennberg said:

“I don’t think we came out the way we wanted. We talked about playing fast, playing hard, tough puck plays and get the puck to the net. I mean obviously it’s not to the standard we want. So… disappointing result and there were some good parts to the game but I mean we gotta come in and give them a better fight.”

Collin Graf opened the scoring at 11:33 with a snap shot. Will Smith made a cross-ice pass to John Klingberg, who sent it right back across to Graf for the shot.

Christian Dvorak tied the game at 18:39. Dvorak and Trevor Zegras broke away and went into the Sharks zone two-on-one against Sam Dickinson. Dvorak got around Dickinson and beat Nedeljkovic on the glove side with a backhand. Assists went to Zegras and Travis Konecny.

The Sharks were outshot 16-3 in the first period. The Sharks also took two penalties and the Flyers took none.

Carl Grundstrom scored the second Flyers goal at 3:20 of the second period. Grundstrom tipped a shot by Nick Seeler. A secondary assist went to Travis Sanheim.

Noah Cates scored the third Flyers goal at 19:48 of the second period. Bobby Brink made a pass to Cates as they rushed to the net. Cates beat Nedeljkovic with a wrist shot on the blocker side. Assists went to Brink and Jamie Drysdale.

The shots were closer in the second, 10-8 Flyers. The Flyers also took the only penalty in the period.

Travis Konecny scored the final goal from the Sharks’ blue line into an empty at 18:17. Dvorak got an assist on that one. The Sharks led in shots in the third, 7-4. The Flyers again took the only penalty in the period.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Hurricanes 4-1, Celebrini Earns 3 Points

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San Jose Sharks Jeff Skinner (53) controls the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes Logan Stankoven (22) in the first period at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Sun Dec 7, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Sunday. Collin Graf, John Klingberg, Alexander Wennberg and Macklin Celebrini scored for the Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for the win. Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes and Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves in the loss.

The win was a noteworthy bounce-back from the two losses that preceded it, and the end of a five-game road losing streak. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said: “I thought we did a good job of just hunkering down, staying with it in our own end in the third and keeping it simple.”

Macklin Celebrini found Collin Graf going to the net for the first goal of the game, just 33 seconds in. Will Smith got the secondary assist, having kept the puck in the zone before passing it to Celebrini.

The line was a new one for the season. “It was fun, it was a great start, great plays from Smitty and Mack, just going to the net, my stick on the ice,” said Graf. “I honestly didn’t really like see it at first, I just thought I was going to the net and he hit me right on the tape. So, pretty impressive,” he said, of Celebrini’s pass.

The Hurricanes tied the game with a power play goal at 13:38. Jordan Staal deflected a shot from Shayne Gostisbehere. An assist also went to Andrei Svechnikov.

Carolina out-shot the Sharks 8-6 in the first. The Sharks took two penalties in the first and killed one. The Hurricanes had just one penalty to kill.

The Sharks took back the lead with a goal at 7:54 of the second. John Klingberg scored the goal, carrying the puck in and passing it to Celebrini behind the goal line. Klingberg got the puck back when he was in a better shooting position and snapped it in. An assist also went to Philipp Kurashev.

Alexander Wennberg scored on the power play at 15:14. Wennberg snapped home the rebound from William Eklund’s shot. An assist also went to Klingberg.

The Sharks outshot the Hurricanes 9-6 in the second. The only penalty called was to Carolina.

Te only goal scored in the third period was an empty-netter scored by Macklin Celebrini at 18:40. Alexander Wennberg got an assist.

The Sharks took two penalties in the third period, both to Jeff Skinner and both stick infractions. The Hurricanes also had one stick penalty. Carolina outshot San Jose 15-7 in the third.

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

Sharks Fall 4-1 to Stars, Stars Score 3 in third

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Dallas Stars right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates his goal with Vladislav Kolyachonok (44) and Sam Steel (18) as San Jose Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov (30) sits in front of the net in third period at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Fri Dec 5, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-1 to the Dallas Stars Friday. Jason Robertson, Sam Steel, Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas. Jake Oettinger made 16 saves for the win. Collin Graf scored for San Jose and Yaroslave Askarov made 20 saves in the loss.

The game was tied 1-1 at the half way point of the third, when the Stars jumped ahead and left the Sharks in the metaphorical dust. The Sharks also took a beating in their last game, a 7-1 loss Wednesday to the Washington Capitals. Asked whether Friday’s game was an improvement over that one, Collin Graf said:

“The last game, we just flushed it as a team. We don’t really want to talk about that one. I think today there were some good things. I think I’ve been playing well, I’ve been creating chances. I just got a lucky bounce. Good job from Delly and Ledz and Kursh.”

Asked a similar question, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said: “Anything better than a 7-1 loss is better.”

The first goal of the game came from the Stars’ Jason Robertson on the power play at 14:20. A rebound from Wyatt Johnston’s shot landed in front of Robertson and he used a backhand to put it away. An assist also went to Mikko Rantanen.

The Stars outshot the Sharks 9-3 in the first. The Sharks took two penalties to the Stars’ one.

Collin Graf tied the game at 8:23 of the second period. Philipp Kurashev threw shot the puck into traffic in front of the net. It came back out and Graf tucked it back in. Assists went to Nick Leddy and Kurashev.

The Sharks outshot the Stars 6-4 in the second period. The penalty count was also reversed, with the Sharks taking one and the Stars two. Only one of those created a power play, as Jeff Skinner and Mikko Rantanen had matching slashing minors.

Sam Steel broke the tie at 10:56 of the third. Steel took a shot from in close and the rebound came back to him. Askarov could not find the puck as it slipped by him near the post. Assists went to Alexander Petrovic and Rantanen.

Rantanen added an insurance goal at 16:39. Rantanen gathered the puck beh8nd the net and carried it out, shooting across off the far post. Assists went to Wyatt Johnston and Vladislav Kolyachonok.

At 17:40, Macklin Celebrini put the puck in the net but, as revealed after a coach’s challenge, Kurashev was off side on the play.

Miro Heiskanen made it 4-1 with a shot into an empty net from the Stars zone. An assist went to Roope Hintz.

Dallas outshot San Jose 11-8 in the third. The Stars took two penalties in the third and the Sharks took none.

The Sharks next play in Carolina against the Hurricanes on Sunday at 2:00 PM PT.

Sharks Upset Wild, Win 2-1 in OT

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) deflects a shot by the Minnesota Wild’s left wing Marcus Folingo (17) in the first period at the Target Center in St. Paul on Tue Nov 11, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday. Will Smith and Collin Graf scored for San Jose. Yaroslav Askarov made 28 saves for the win. Matt Boldy scored for the Wild and Filip Gustavsson made 16 saves in the loss.

The first period ended scoreless with the Wild out-shooting the Sharks 8-5. Each team took one minor penalty but the penalty kills were perfect.

Matt Boldy scored the first goal of the game on the power play at 5:02 of the second period. Mats Zuccarello set up Boldy with a cross-ice pass from just above the goal line. An assist also went to Zeev Buium.

The Wild outshot the Sharks 15-5 in the second period. The Sharks took three penalties to the Wild’s one.

Will Smith scored a power play goal midway through the third period to tie the game. The goal came off of a four-touch play starting with a drop-pass from Macklin Celebrini to William Eklund and ending with a cross-ice pass from Celebrini to Smith for the shot. Assists went to Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli.

The third period saw the Sharks finally catch up on the shot clock, leading 7-6. The Wild toook the only penalty of the third.

As they had been in much of the game, the Wild looked like the dominant team in overtime. The Sharks spent very little time in control of the puck. Finally, Macklin Celebrini did get the puck and carried it in for a pass through the Wild defense. Collin Graf caught that pass and scored the game winner at 2:41 of overtime. Sam Dickinson also got an assist.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in Calgary against the Flames at 6:00 PM PT.

Barracuda Shutout Reign 5-0, Askarov Makes 22 Saves

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San Jose Barracuda goaltender Yarsolav Askarov (30) was huge in the Barracuda’s shutout over the Ontario Reign at the Toyota Arena in Ontario on Sat Oct 12, 2024 (San Jose Barracuda X photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Barracuda defeated the Ontario Reign with a 5-0 shutout on Saturday. Anthony Vincent, Kasper Haltunen (two goals), Collin Graf and Joey Keane scored for San Jose. Yaroslav Askarov made 22 saves for the win. Erik Portillo made 18 saves for the Reign.

The Barracuda took the lead at 6:27 of the first period with a goal from Anthony Vincent. Vincent redirected a shot from the point by Joey Keane. Assists went to Keane and Donavan Houle.

Lucas Vanroboys of the Barracuda and Shawn Element of the Reign fought at 9:15. Braden Hache took a holding penalty at 11:13, The Barracuda neatly killed of that penalty. At the end of the first, the shots were 6-5 San Jose.

Kasper Halttunen made it 2-0 on the power play at 2:34 of the second period. Filip Bystedt passed the puck across the ice to Haltunen in the faceoff circle. Haltunen’s shot went off of Portillo and into the net as the goalie tried to get across. Assists went to Bystedt and Andrew Poturalski. It was Haltunen’s first AHL goal.

After that, the Barracuda spent some time on the penalty kill. Tristen Robbins was called for slashing at 5:43. Jake Furlong was called for tripping at 11:20. Braden Hache was then called for checking to the head at 18:40. The Barracuda penalty kill was perfect.

At the end of the period, the shots were still very close, 16-15 Ontario.

57 seconds into the third period, the Reign pushed the puck over the line in a scramble at the Barracuda net. But the whistle had already gone and no goal was awarded.

With more than ten minutes gone in the third period, the Barracuda had killed another penalty but had no shots on goal for the period. With the team’s first shot of the period, Collin Graf skated in with a breakaway and lifted the puck over a prone Portillo at 12:24. An assist went to Tristen Robbins.

Haltunen scored his second power play goal at 16:39 of the third. He took the shot off a big rebound right into the slot. Assists went to Luca Cagnoni and Andrew Poturalski.

The final few minutes of the game were riddled with penalties and misconducts. Taking advantage of a turnover in the chaos, Joey Keane added another goal for the Barracuda, making it 5-0 at 18:21. An assist went to Bystedt.

By the end of the period, the Barracuda had balanced the shot count back to 23-22 San Jose.

The Barracuda will face the Reign again on Sunday at 3:00 PM PT in Ontario.