Sharks smothered by Senators as October ends on dismal note

Curtis Pashelka, Bay Area News Group on Oct 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — Michael Misa chased a loose puck in the neutral zone when Ottawa Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven delivered a hard check that sent the Sharks center crashing into the boards.

As Collin Graf went after Kleven and with Misa slow to get up, the Senators raced up the ice on a 3-on-2 odd-man rush that Ottawa’s leading scorer, Tim Stützle, finished.

The sequence put the Sharks in a two-goal hole they never fully recovered from, as they were largely outplayed and outworked in a 5-1 loss to the Senators before an announced crowd of 16,138 at SAP Center.

Misa scored at the 16:06 mark of the first period, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, in an uneven performance, finished with 30 saves as the Sharks lost in regulation for the third time in four games and finished October with a 7-7-1 record for 15 points, the same number of points they had after 15 games last season (6-6-3).

The Sharks, outshot 35-22, also allowed even-strength goals to Dylan Cozens and Drake Batherson before Ridly Greig scored a short-handed goal at the 12:17 mark of the second period to give the Senators a 4-1 lead.

Shane Pinto added an empty-netter for the Senators (9-5-1).

The Sharks have now been outshot in seven straight games.

On the play, after the Sharks turned the puck over inside the Senators’ zone, Greig beat Will Smith up the ice, took a pass from Pinto and beat Nedeljkovic for his second goal of the season.

The Sharks are now 1-2-0 on a four-game homestand that ends on Monday against the Calgary Flames. In the three games, the Sharks have been held to just three goals.

After the Sharks allowed a goal to Cozens off the rush at the 13:25 mark of the first period, Misa tied it up thanks to some nice work along the boards by Jacob Trouba and Kiefer Sherwood.

Trouba created a turnover by pinching in from the blue line as the puck came around the boards inside the Senators’ zone. Sherwood came in to support and won the puck back to Trouba, who got a shot on goal, got the rebound and shoveled it over to Misa for a tap-in goal.

Thanks mainly to a 41-save performance from goalie Yaroslav Askarov, the Sharks, largely outplayed 5-on-5, beat the Senators 6-2 on Oct. 22 at Canadian Tire Centre.

Despite that, the Sharks started Nedeljkovic on Saturday, his first start on home ice this season. He started four times on the Sharks’ recent six-game road trip, going 2-1-1 with a .899 save percentage, a number skewed a 6-4 loss to the Boston Bruins on Oct. 24 in which Nedeljkovic stopped 29 of 34 shots.

Notable

The Sharks made one lineup change for Saturday’s game. Zack Ostapchuk, who was a healthy scratch for Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, returned to center the Sharks’ fourth line, and Adam Gaudette, who played right wing on the fourth line, was a scratch.