BOSTON \u2014 Eat your heart out, Bobby Orr!<\/p>\n
William Eklund scored perhaps the goal of the year, beating Andrew Peeke one-on-one, then in flight, batting a rebound over Jeremy Swayman\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
Eat your heart out, Bobby Orr! https:\/\/t.co\/77Tumdrbll<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n This aerial assault gave the San Jose Sharks a 4-0 lead, en route to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n This was a huge goal for the Sharks and Eklund, his first goal in 20 games, since Jan. 7, and just his second in his last 24.<\/p>\n This win also put the San Jose Sharks back into the last wild card spot in the West.<\/p>\n Notably, Eklund was a game-time decision, playing through a lower-body injury \u2014 post-game, he appeared to have an ice pack over his left knee \u2014 but he came up with a one goal and one assist performance just when his team needed it. The Sharks were on a three-game losing streak, and they snapped both the Bruins\u2019 13-game winning streak and San Jose\u2019s eight-game skid in Boston. The Sharks\u2019 last win at TD Garden was in Nov. 2015.<\/p>\n Of course, Eklund\u2019s score was no comparison to what might be Hall of Famer Orr\u2019s signature goal, memorialized outside the Garden with a statue. Orr\u2019s aerial strike won the 1970 Stanley Cup over the St. Louis Blues.<\/p>\n But for Eklund and the Sharks, both who want to hoist their first-ever Cup, this was a 23-year-old winger, playing hurt, and coming up with the closest thing to a clutch playoff performance so far in his career. Eklund has been surging post-Olympic break, despite his goal-less slump, finding chemistry with both rookie center Michael Misa and veteran scorer Tyler Toffoli, and San Jose would love for him to get hot, in this playoff-like cauldron.<\/p>\n Whether the San Jose Sharks make the playoffs or not this season, a performance like this matters: It\u2019s not just about the on the ice, we\u2019re also going to learn about the character of these young Sharks in the coming weeks. We\u2019re going to learn a little bit about who\u2019s essential to winning in the coming years, when San Jose becomes a serious contender. Showing your mettle in Mar. 2026 might matter in Jun. 2031.<\/p>\n No doubt, the Sharks, as a whole, are battling. Helped, frankly, by a weak conference, San Jose has managed to claw their way back into the playoff picture for the first time since Jan 28. But credit too, they\u2019ve overcome a 4-5-3 record since then, and have put themselves in position to be masters of their destiny to finish the regular season.<\/p>\n The Sharks, if they have a better record than the teams chasing them for the rest of this year \u2014 chiefly, the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, and Nashville Predators \u2014 will make the playoffs.<\/p>\n Collin Graf<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Alex Nedeljkovic<\/p>\n Nedeljkovic, on if there\u2019s more pressure on him when he\u2019s being backed up by an EBUG:<\/p>\n You can definitely think that way. And it does creep in your head a little bit, but you gotta flush it pretty quick. You can\u2019t play tentative. You can\u2019t be cautious and think I can\u2019t have an off-night. Because you\u2019re not now focused on stopping pucks, right? You\u2019re thinking about the what if\u2019s. And obviously, they\u2019re not positive what-if\u2019s. They\u2019re pretty negative what-if\u2019s. So you got to try to figure out a way to flush it pretty quick and not worry about it, and honestly, be in the moment, enjoy it, and try to make [EBUG Kyle Chauvette] feel as comfortable as possible, and make him feel like one of the boys. I thought everybody did that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n William Eklund<\/p>\n Ryan Warsofsky<\/p>\n Warsofsky, on Eklund’s goal: “That’s a goal that you’ll see on highlight reels for a long, long time. That’s one of the nice goals I’ve seen.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n No update on Askarov from Warsofsky. Chernyshov has joined #SJSharks<\/a> in Boston. <\/p>\n No practice tomorrow in Montreal, but we’ll see if the Sharks recall a Barracuda goalie tomorrow<\/p>\n \u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \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