SAN JOSE: The San Jose Sharks opened the 2026-27 season at SAP Center against the veteran-laden Florida Panthers. A tough test to open the season.
In a back-and-forth game filled with fast action, scrums, fights, and goals, the SAP Center was the loudest it has been in a long while last night, and when Luca Cagoni scored the game winner in overtime, it sounded like the roof came off the place.
The Shark Tank was rocking.
In 3-on-3 overtime, defenseman Luca Cagoni took a pass from forward Will Smith to beat the Panthers’ goalie five-hole for his first career NHL goal and the Sharks’ first win of the season. This was the first opening night win for the Sharks since 2021.
Cagoni became the first Sharks player in NHL history to score his first career NHL goal in overtime.
“Pretty unreal. Probably the best goal of my life,” Cagnoni said. “Hard to write one better than an overtime winner. People dream of playing (in the NHL). I feel like I reenacted that a couple of times, but (it’s an) unreal feeling.”
The Panthers set the tone early when both Tkachuk brothers got physical with Macklin Celebrini along the boards. Jacob Trouba didn’t like his captain getting roughed up, so he stood up for Mack and fought Brady Tkachuk. Way to set an example by the vet. Astounding, the referees missed the cross-check to the back of Celebrini’s head by Brady Tkachuk.
Later in the first, Mason Marchment scored his first Sharks goal off a gritty play on the forecheck by Will Smith. Marchment took the poor exit pass from Florida and put a shot through traffic to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
During the second period’s penalty kill, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, the dynamic duo, went to work. Near the end of the power play, Celebrini created a Florida turnover in the Sharks’ zone and sped up the ice on a 2-on-1 setting up Will Smith for a beautiful shorthanded goal to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
Will Smith got his second goal of the night later in the period. Celebrini just missed his wraparound shot, but Smith was there to crash the net and put it home to give the Sharks a commanding 3-0 lead.
But it wasn’t for long. The Sharks coughed up the 3-0 lead. The Sharks allowed a power-play goal to Eetu Luostarinen with 2:50 left in the second period, and then they gave up two third-period goals to Luostarinen and Matthew Tkachuk just 17 seconds apart.
The young Sharks never wavered, though; they battled all night. They withstood another Panthers push late in the game to get it to overtime.
“Maybe in years prior, we would start freaking out a little bit and kind of get down in the dumps,” Smith said on blowing a three-goal lead. “But this year, there’s no quit, and we got the job finished.”
“I think we started a little flat there in the third,” Celebrini said. “We knew they were going to come on and push, so I think we did a good job weathering it.”
Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov kept the team in the game during the third period with some key stops and finished with 23 saves. Late in the third period, Keifer Sherwood did an impressive job drawing a penalty on Florida to give the Sharks a power play heading into overtime.
The Sharks struggled to capitalize on the power play, but Luca Cagoni ultimately secured the game-winning overtime goal with 1:46 remaining.
Macklin Celebrini finished with three assists, including one on Cagnoni’s goal.
This game was a good test for the young Sharks, and they did well. The game was a measuring stick test against a team like the Panthers, who have won 2 Stanley Cups, in 2024 and 2025.
The Sharks are 1-0, and up next is a Saturday night pacific division matchup against the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center. Puck drop is at 7 PM PST on NBC Sports California.
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