{"id":249707,"date":"2026-04-03T06:26:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249707\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T06:26:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:26:25","slug":"sharks-back-in-playoff-spot-for-now-step-on-leafs-4-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249707\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Back in Playoff Spot (For Now), Step on Leafs 4-1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Jose Sharks welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs into SAP Center.<\/p>\n<p>Zack Ostapchuk and Collin Graf and William Eklund and Adam Gaudette scored, and the Sharks won 4-1.<\/p>\n<p>Period 1<\/p>\n<p>2 in: Wennberg line all over the Leafs on the forecheck. Sherwood passed up a shot that he probably should\u2019ve taken, but then got the puck back himself, cranked it. Toronto sleepwalking there.<\/p>\n<p>Ostapchuk goal: Goodrow with a challenging NZ pass, but he\u2019s got touch with it. Goodrow has underrated touch with the puck on clears and passing. And Ostapchuk just flutters it, wonder if Stolarz wants that back.<\/p>\n<p>4 in: Celebrini fired that Smith pass that was a bit behind him with some velocity. Right now, the Sharks looked like the Maple Leafs of yore, high-flying, and the Leafs look like the rebuilding side.<\/p>\n<p>6 in: Toffoli just takes it from Nylander on the forecheck. Leafs look zonked out. Sharks have a chance to build a multi-goal lead in this period.<\/p>\n<p>7 in: Chernyshov with a cross-ice entry pass, too soft, intercepted. That\u2019s a dangerous spot for a turnover.<\/p>\n<p>8 left: Goodrow desperate, ties up Lorentz\u2019s stick in slot, prevents a Grade-A. Then a Gaudette clear-pass springs Ostapchuk for a breakaway, but post.<\/p>\n<p>7 left: Wennberg picks off a sleepy Tavares pass to the middle. San Jose Sharks got to put another one on the board here.<\/p>\n<p>6 left: Graf and Misa kill Robertson play along wall.<\/p>\n<p>4 left: Benoit set up in the slot, time and space, huge Nedeljkovic game. Leafs haven\u2019t been doing much, but they just need one chance, if the Sharks are going to let them hang around.<\/p>\n<p>Graf goal: Orlov all over Robertson trying to exit. Orlov has had a tough stretch of games, good to see him rebound. Then Toffoli jumps on McCabe, Misa drops it to Graf, who wires it. Graf is a 20-goal scorer!<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Look at Graf go \ud83d\ude4c <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3ymaVevY0z\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/3ymaVevY0z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBCSSharks\/status\/2039897460643110956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Period 2<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Announced attendance 15,180, 3rd-straight non-sellout for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SJSharks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#SJSharks<\/a>, after 11-straight sellouts<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sheng_Peng\/status\/2039903391481319918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Eklund goal: Eklund gets a bounce! Long shot, deflected off Carlo, goes off end boards, off Stolarz and in.<\/p>\n<p>5 in: Graf just missed his second, brilliant backhand Misa pass just goes under Graf. Definitely the San Jose Sharks\u2019 game tonight though, a telegraphed slot pass to Misa, I think from Toffoli, probably should\u2019ve been an easy steal for Leafs, but Misa deflects it on Stolarz, that starts chaos.<\/p>\n<p>Tavares goal: Wasn\u2019t going to go Sharks\u2019 way all night. San Jose PK has two 2-on-1\u2019s, Wennberg set up Goodrow for the last one, Stolarz stop. Going other way on counterattack, Tavares beats Nedeljkovic. Sharks have had it easy tonight, let\u2019s see how they respond to a little adversity.<\/p>\n<p>7 in: San Jose Sharks power play being too fine there on their first pass. Not building momentum.<\/p>\n<p>8 in: Better second run by top PP unit, Stolarz stretched out, gets a leg on a Smith Grade-A chance.<\/p>\n<p>5 left: Wennberg negotiates through Leafs defensive traffic in slot expertly, finds Desharnais, but his shot deflected out. San Jose Sharks, to their credit, have kept tight lid on Leafs since Tavares goal, though they could stand to create more offense.<\/p>\n<p>This is honestly a game that a better San Jose Sharks squad, one day, will have like a 5-1 lead through now. Some lack of precision and talent keeping Toronto in a game that they have no business being in.<\/p>\n<p>Period 3<\/p>\n<p>3 in: Sharks need to put foot on throat of Leafs here on power play, they\u2019re not. Knies SH breakaway, huge Ned save.<\/p>\n<p>Chernyshov hasn\u2019t been at his best tonight, wonder if he\u2019s still a little under weather. He\u2019s back on PP2 though.<\/p>\n<p>4 in: Teams trading chances here, which the Sharks need to stop. But San Jose was at the doorstep of making it 4-1, Eklund on PP, shoots, big rebound, Misa open net and post, then diving Eklund for open net, but a Leaf gets in the way somehow.<\/p>\n<p>7 in: Another big Ned save on Robertson walking down, after extended Toronto cycle. There\u2019s a lesson here about putting away an opponent. But credit to Nedeljkovic with calming down the storm. He\u2019s been great, after light work early on.<\/p>\n<p>9 in: Knies, a strong dude, has puck bounce in front of him in high slot, but Celebrini too strong one-on-one, Knies can\u2019t do anything with it. That\u2019s an impressive bit of defending.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Eklund hunched over on bench after shot block, but he&#8217;s staying on the bench for now. Big-time block<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sheng_Peng\/status\/2039922063264432249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just the second time this season that the Sharks won a game where Celebrini didn\u2019t score a point.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For first time since 3\/14, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SJSharks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#SJSharks<\/a> are back in a Western Conference playoff spot.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;ll remain there tonight if Preds beat Kings<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sheng_Peng\/status\/2039924401005809683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs into SAP Center. Zack Ostapchuk and Collin Graf and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1033,93,2026,2027,88,90,89,98,2992],"class_list":{"0":"post-249707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-2025-26","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-game-notes","11":"tag-notes","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose-news","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks","16":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}