ANAHEIM, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks visit Honda Center for their third pre-season tilt.

#SJSharks playing 5 players tonight w/ over 200+ NHL games: Kurashev (317 ), Gaudette (301), Liljegren (264), Wahlstrom (236), Dellandrea (219).

On other hand, Ducks playing 6 players w/ 800+ games (Killorn, Granlund, Kreider, Strome, Gudas, Trouba) https://t.co/00TWtpcWdc

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 30, 2025

Pavol Regenda and Adam Gaudette scored, but the Sharks lost 3-2.

Period 1

3 in: Regenda with first San Jose Sharks chance. Warsofsky has genuinely liked him this camp. Wonder if he’s an early call-up.

Halttunen tries to take I think Lacombe 1-on-1, goes as you can guess. Halttunen doesn’t have the burst for that yet.

9 in: Entering zone, Cardwell goes for the soft pass to covered teammate, intercepted. With his speed, maybe want to see a little more head down, try to drive. Was end of long shift for Cardwell. Maybe a dump then, make it a 50-50 for his teammate. But don’t love the turnover high in the zone.

San Jose Sharks PP1: Cagnoni, Wahlstrom, Regenda, Gaudette, Kurashev, PP2: Liljegren, Halttunen, Afanasyev, Cardwell, Olausson.

3 left: Ducks taking over. I wonder if there was intention with this schedule, for the Ducks to be in their fifth pre-season game (and therefore running a more NHL side) and the Sharks in just their third game. Not a good match-up in that sense. On the other hand, a test for the more NHL guys like Mukhamadullin to see what they can do without much help.

1 left: Was having flashbacks of 2023-24 there. Breakout pass is behind Mukhamadullin, handcuffs him in middle of his slot, then Kurashev skates into the puck. So clear-cut Sharks possession is lost, unforced turnover, Ducks mount pressure. Sharks were OK for most of first but got ugly at the end.

Period 2

Whoa, Regenda blows up Granlund, Trouba doesn’t like it, but looked clean. Dellandrea and Granlund, ex-stallmates, come together (amicably). Sharks power play, Granlund fine.

1 in: Carlsson with an incredible pass, short-handed Grade-A setup, big save. Pronounced skill difference in these teams show up in special teams, short-handed Ducks have best chances, Carlsson has most spectacular skill play. Skarek equal to task.

5 in: Sharks need to play a more basic game. Get it to net, get it deep, crash and grind.

Gauthier goal: Power play strike, Gauthier takes advantage of a loose puck that bounces to him, Skarek not set.

Gudas goal: Wahlstrom tries to force a centering pass through two Ducks to Bowers, Ducks counterattack. Mukhamadullin almost kills Colangelo play along wall, but can’t, could’ve used help there too. Gudas steps in from the slot, blasts it past Skarek.

Vatrano goal: Clayton too puck-focused, maybe because Hinds seems to have a half-step on flat-footed Hache, but Clayton doesn’t take Vatrano’s stick or anything. Too easy.

Carriere comes in for Skarek, plan all along, but #SJSharks left Skarek out to dry in this period

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 30, 2025

Press box mate, on Sharks tonight, “This could get ugly.” Again, a common refrain in the Slackin’ for Macklin year.

Regenda penalty: Couple penalties this period, however, won’t help his case for more NHL consideration.

9 left: Good effort by Kurashev to draw penalty. Small moment, but Afanasyev won’t get a lot of opportunities to prove his skill is NHL-caliber. His bounce pass doesn’t go to intended target, Ducks get whistle, he bangs his stick, knowing. Last Shark shot was 1:54 into period.

7 left: Spark of skill there, Cagnoni pressured high one-touches it to weakside open man, legit skill there. Then Mukhamadullin shot-pass to Cardwell, just misses net.

Regenda goal: Good simple work. Regenda traffic, Mukhamadullin bullet.

6 left: Halttunen down-low draws a penalty on LaCombe, that’s good work. That’s a start for his pro career if he can become a consistent bull down low. He doesn’t need to be the blueline to blueline monster that say Musty can be.

4 left: Olausson bites on Ducks’ short-handed attack when he shouldn’t, leaves Cagnoni on 2-on-1 island, which Cagnoni, impressively, halts. Hard to say any Shark save Skarek has been consistently good tonight, but Cagnoni with some nice flashes tonight, reminders of his real NHL talent.

2 left: San Jose Sharks showing more of a pulse now. A little more direct, get to the middle, shoot game. Cagnoni just did a nice job holding off the much bigger (but way younger) Sennecke in one-on-one loose puck battle. They’re not letting this get ridiculous at least.

Period 3

Tough pass Cagnoni completes to Dellandrea there.

2 in: Wahlstrom sneaky shot off faceoff, behind Bowers, Husso was challenged. Now Ducks 20-19 shots, good effort by Sharks to turn it around, compete.

6 in: Dead Sharks, can’t get it out, Ducks have puck for ages, but credit to Bowers, jumps a pass and skates it out.

10 in: Cagnoni versus Granlund and Gauthier for loose puck, Cagnoni ducked a hit from Gauthier that never came, but hey, he got it out.

Gaudette goal: Well, he can shoot it. He overskates the puck at first, sliding Duck bothers him, but he gets it back and beats Husso.

3 left: Aggressive pull, Carriere off, down one. Mukhamadullin-Gaudette-Kurashev-Regenda-Dellandrea-Cardwell are Sharks’ 6-man unit with goalie pulled