The San Jose Sharks are getting a much needed day off after a tough outing in Vegas that saw them lose 4-3 to the Golden Knights. It was a mixed bag of a game for the Sharks, with some good things and some not so good things. There was the stretch of game in the second period, with the game tied at one apiece, when the Sharks let things get away from them. Vegas reeled off three quick unanswered goals and suddenly it was 4-1. But the good news is that unlike previous iterations of this team, this one rallied back and didn’t let the minutes tick by to do it. By the end of the period, San Jose had scored two answering goals of its own and was chasing down a third.

Still Natural Stat Trick’s GameFlow chart in all situations shows that the Sharks have a ways to go before the team can compete with some of the upper echelon teams in the NHL.

Notice that while the Sharks had moments where the team tried to swing control back into the San Jose’s favor, those were usually followed by an overwhelming pushback by Vegas. San Jose kept the shot clock close at 24-21 in favor of Vegas and the scoring chances close-ish as well — they were 34-27 in favor of Vegas — it was not close enough. The scoresheet was indicative of two teams at different stages of their development.

Who played it best

I always find HockeyStatCards GameScore Impact Card to be interesting insight because the stats defy the eye test. In this case, some of the things that John Klingberg did were frustrating for fans but they may have been tinged with recency bias. In truth, Klingberg was one of San Jose’s better defenders last night, behind only Mario Ferraro, who had an exceptional game.

Among the forwards, the trio of Barclay Goodrow, Ryan Reaves and Zack Ostapchuk only played 6:55 together, with Goodrow getting the most ice time of all three at 8:13. With the limited usage, it’s understandable that they’d be middle of the pack in terms of game impact because they didn’t have the time to do much one way or the other.

On the flip side, while Alex Wennberg had a tough game, he was given the toughest matchups because he was the most reliable in the faceoff circle. None of the Sharks were better than 50% on the dot. Wennberg and Adam Gaudette were both 50% exactly, with Wennberg going 7 of 14 and Gaudette going 4 of 8, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Finally, poor Alex Nedeljkovic. This was supposed to be a response game for him, but the team didn’t help him out, and he had a mistake that cost him. That third goal was an overplay on his part that put him out of position.

Nedeljkovic’s stat line isn’t great. He stopped 20 of 24 shots for a .833 save percentage. His expected goals against for the game was 2.84.

Off the schneid

Okay, this post can’t be all doom and gloom because a few good things happened in this game. First, the good news is, one of the Sharks is off the schneid. William Eklund found the back of the net in this game, so now we can say he is officially back. Up until this weekend (we’ll count Friday), Eklund hadn’t scored since before he was injured, and so it felt like:

Really, it was just since the start of November. Then he scored a goal against Vancouver on Friday, and then Eklund got on the board with a shot that just trickled through Lindbom on Saturday.

William Eklund with a saucy finish on this breakaway goal 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/fV9V1zSdRy

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) November 30, 2025

A scoring Eklund makes the Sharks a more dangerous team.

Century city

Finally, a couple of 100 milestones to celebrate. This was the 100th game for Will Smith and he made it a memorable one with a pair of goals. In 100 games, Smith has 69 points. While plus/minus isn’t always the best stat to go off of, it’s clear to see that Smith’s defensive game has been much better this season than it was compared to last. This season, the forward is a plus-two in 26 games and has 24 points. He’s on pace for 76 points in 82 games and a plus-six rating, according to ESPN if he plays out the rest of the season. That’s not too bad for a sophomore season.

Then there’s his linemate, Macklin Celebrini, who hit a century milestone of his own last night. Celebrini registered his 100th point when he assisted on Smith’s power play goal in the second period. Celebrini placed himself on a series of Sharks and NHL lists.

Fewest games to 100 points as a Shark:

Thornton – 65
Celebrini – 96
Heatley – 99
Kisio – 109
Damphousse – 112
Nolan – 114

Fastest to 100 from start of career w/ SJS:

Celebrini – 96
Ozolinsh – 144
Falloon – 145
Couture – 150
Eklund – 156
Whitney – 159

— San Jose Sharks PR (@SanJoseSharksPR) November 30, 2025

He became the fastest Sharks’ drafted player to reach 100 points, doing so in game 96. He also became the eighth youngest player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

Highlight

The bucket-less warmup. The Sharks skated out with no helmets as a team at T-Mobile Arena last night.

It was a team decision and Will Smith didn’t offer a lot of information about why they did it. But it was a good look, and it gave them a fresh attitude, even if it might cost them in the end, which The Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka speculated about.

Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights Nov. 29, 2025

First period
7:34 SJS Will Smith from Tyler Toffoli and Dmitry Orlov
16:13 VGK Tomas Hertl from Pavel Dorofeyev and Ben Hutton

Second period
5:36 VGK Colton Sissons from Keegan Kolesar and Cole Reinhardt
7:02 VGK Mitch Marner from Brett Howden and Mark Stone
12:38 VGK Tomas Hertl from Mitch Marker and Jack Eichel on the power play
14:40 SJS Will Smith from Macklin Celebrini on the power play
19:35 SJS William Eklund from Adam Gaudette and Mario Ferraro

Third period
No scoring