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SAN JOSE – Ivar Stenberg had the first multi-point game of his NHL career, but the Sharks made one too many mistakes in a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday at SAP Center.
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Stenberg scored his first career NHL goal on the power play off an assist from Macklin Celebrini at the 5:48 mark of the second period, and later assisted on Celebrini’s own power-play goal at the 5:04 mark of the third that cut the Bruins’ lead to 4-3.
But that’s as close as the Sharks could get as they went winless on a two-game homestand and have now lost three of four.
Stenberg and rookie defenseman Luca Cagnoni both finished the game as a -4 as the Sharks allowed a season-high in goals.
Dmitry Orlov had two assists in the loss, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov finished with 20 saves as the Sharks set to begin a six-game road trip Thursday in Nashville. That’s followed by stops in Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa before a final game on Oct. 24 against the same Bruins at TD Garden.
The Sharks made some significant changes to their forward lines for Tuesday’s game, notably moving Igor Chernyshov to the top line with Celebrini and Will Smith, and Stenberg to a line with Michael Misa and Kiefer Sherwood.
Something needed to be done. The Sharks managed just three 5-on-5 goals in their last three games, and Smith and Mason Marchment went four games without a point.
But the forward-line changes wouldn’t do much good if the Sharks didn’t get more to the middle of the ice to create high-danger chances. Through five games, the Sharks, per Natural Stat Trick, had managed just 22 high-danger chances, the lowest per-game average in the NHL.
Through the first 52 minutes of Tuesday’s game, the Sharks generated nine high-danger chances and allowed 10.
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The Sharks felt they played a pretty good defensive game on Saturday in a 3-1 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers, saying they made only a few mistakes, but they all ended up in the back of their net.
That might have been the case in the first period on Tuesday, too.
Stenberg turned over the puck on a clearing pass into the neutral zone, and Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov quickly intercepted it.
Zadorov got the puck to Casey Mittlestadt, who entered the zone, got a shot on net, picked up his own rebound, circled the net and sent a pass to a trailing Frazer Minten, who fired a shot past Askarov for a 1-0 Boston lead at the 12:55 mark of the first period.
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead at the 18:43 mark of the first period as they hemmed in the Sharks’ fourth line in their own zone. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy poked the puck away from Barclay Goodrow in the slot, then got position in front of the net and poked a pass from JJ Peterka past Askarov.
The goal, plus one by Pavel Zacha at the end of the second period, marked the fourth and fifth time in six games this season that the Sharks have allowed a goal in the final three minutes of a period.
In four starts this season before Tuesday, Askarov was 2-2-0 with an .860 save percentage and 3.71 goals against average. Per moneypuck.com, Askarov’s goals saved above expected per 60 mark of -0.074 ranks 19th out of 25 NHL goalies who had played in at least four games before Tuesday.
To be sure, the Sharks were also a little loose defensively to begin the season, allowing a combined 35 high-danger chances through Askarov’s first three starts. Askarov, it can be argued, has also given the Sharks a chance to win in three of his four starts, including Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Edmonton when miscues by his teammates played a part all three Oilers goals.
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This story was originally published October 13, 2026 at 11:04 PM.