San Jose Sharks center Tyler Toffoli (73) who scored the game winning goal in overtime is on the bottom of the dog pile as San Jose defeated the Dallas Stars at SAP Center in San Jose on Jan 10, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Ryan Hannagan and Lincoln Juarez
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Tyler Toffoli scored in his second straight game including the overtime winner to complete the Sharks comeback against the Dallas Stars. Macklin Celebrini extended his point streak to 13 games with three assists in the Sharks 5-4 overtime win.
The first of back-to-back games at SAP Center this weekend featured the final meeting of the season between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks. The Sharks went into Saturday afternoon hot, winning 5 of their last 6 which has them sitting in the first wildcard spot in the West.
Dallas currently sits in 2nd in the ever-so stacked Central Division and have fire power and depth that has the potential to lead them to a deep playoff run this postseason. However, the Stars are struggling as of late, dropping 6 of their last 7 games. The last meeting against Dallas didn’t go well for the Sharks, who dropped the contest 5-3 in the Lone Star State.
The first shift of the game, Dallas came out firing, Alex Nedeljkovic had to sprawl down and make three saves to keep the puck out of the net. A few minutes later the Sharks had good chances off the stick of Macklin Celebrini and Igor Chernyshov. San Jose had a heavy shooting pace early, throwing 8 shots on goal in the first 7:23.
Although the San Jose offense was in charge early, the Stars lit the lamp first. Sharks defenseman Vinny Iorio had a costly turnover along the offensive zone blue line leading to a breakaway for Justin Hryckowian who ripped it past Nedeljkovic, 1-0 Stars.
The Sharks went on the power play soon after, but failed to make anything happen while not generating a shot on goal. San Jose had their best chance of the period with 3:22 left as Celebrini fed Chernysov in front of the net who shot the puck through the five hole of Stars goaltender, Casey DeSmith but not past the goal line, the puck sat in the blue paint and was swept out of danger.
The Stars went up 2-0 on a delayed Sharks penalty when Jason Robertson scored after drawing the San Jose penalty. After one, the Sharks outshot Dallas 11-9 but trailed 2-0.
Three minutes and 59 seconds into the second period the Sharks went on the power play when Macklin Celebrini drew a trip and Esa Lindell was sent to the box. On the power play, Celebrini fed Alex Wennberg in front and San Jose finally got on the board to get within one. Celebrini increased his point streak to 13 games with the assist on Wennberg’s ninth goal of the season.
The Stars played an undisciplined second period taking a lot of penalties. Colin Blackwell tripped Pavol Regenda sending team teal to the power play once more. The Sharks capitalized again up a man with a goal from Jeff Skinner off a perfect pass from Igor Chernyshov to tie the game at two.
The tie didn’t last too long, with one minute left in the period Stars defenseman Kyle Capobianco placed a perfect shot past Alex Nedeljkovic to give the Stars the lead back. At the end of two, the score sat 3-2 in favor of Dallas. The second period was controlled by the Sharks, yet they trailed after 40 minutes.
After back and forth play in the first 7:30 of the first third, Mikko Rantanen scored off a geometric bounce shot off Nedeljkovic’s pad to make it 4-2 Stars.
The Sharks great day on the power play continued in the third, Tyler Toffoli scored his first of two big goals in the afternoon from Celebrini, as the Sharks clawed back within a goal.
At 15:01 of the third period, Sam Dickinson threw a beautiful feed to Adam Gaudette in prime real estate just outside of the goal crease. Gaudette deflected the puck past Casey DeSmith to tie the game, 4-4.
Both teams traded chances in the final four minutes and change, but both goaltenders stood strong in their respective creases to send the game to overtime.
Not even a minute into overtime the Stars undisciplined play continued as Mikko Rantenen got sent to the box on a holding call. The Sharks powerplay, which was already 3-for-5, took to the ice looking to end the game and earn the extra point.
After a scramble around the net, William Eklund found Tyler Toffoli in the slot who ripped a one-time shot into the back of the net to complete the Sharks comeback.
San Jose went 4-for-6 on the man advantage on their way to a thrilling 5-4 win, which put them in third place in the Pacific and five games above .500 for the first time since 2019. The Sharks hope to take the momentum of a three-game winning streak into Sunday’s battle with the Vegas Golden Knights in what could potentially be a battle for first place in the Pacific pending a Vegas loss to St. Louis Saturday night.
Puck drop at 5:00pm at SAP Center.
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