Nov 12, 2025
3 min read
NHL: San Jose Sharks' Yaroslav Askarov makes surprise debut against Minnesota Wild on Tuesday
Forward Colin Graf scored at the 2:40 mark of overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
Graf’s goal came on an odd-man rush as he took a pass from Macklin Celebrini and made a forehand to backhand move to beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson for his second goal of the season, as the Sharks recovered from a slow start to win their fourth straight game.
After the goal, Halk's players poured from the bench, and went to catch with others in Jaroslav Jaroslav, who made 28 lights to bring back his team.
"We didn't play our best," Graf told ESPN after the game, adding that before the start of the third quarter, Winger Barclay turned to music!"
Graf's goal was Smiths power play at 11:57 of the third period to tie the game at 1:1).Tyler Toffofoli knocked down a diagonal pass on the play to free Diagone Wighi from Gustavson's pads for his seventh goal of the season.
"Obviously, the power play was huge," Graf said, "and it was good that we were able to finish it."
The Sharks (8-6-3) are now 6-0-1 after losing to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 28, and have won four straight games for the first time since starting the 2021-22 season 4-0-0.They conclude their road trip with games against the Calgary Flames on Thursday and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
Askarov started unexpectedly. He was the Sharks' best player through two periods as he stopped 22 of 23 shots, with the lone miss being Matt Boldy's power play goal at 5:02 of the second period where he made 28 saves.
The Sharks, meanwhile, had just five field goals in the first and second quarters, including one against Gustafsson on the first two power plays. The Sharks have been cold on the man advantage of late, converting on just one of 23 chances in their last eight games before Smith scored on a third down.
Smith now has three goals and four assists in each of his past five games, and has three goals and four assists in that span.The streak entered Tuesday's game tied for fourth in the NHL at halftime.
With two assists on Tuesday, Celebrini now has 17 points in just seven games on the road.
Still, Forest dominated the Sharks at even strength.The exception was the Sharks' second line of Alexander Weinberg, Philip Korashev, and William Eklund, as the trio accounted for six of San Jose's first 13 shots.
Eklund returned to the Sharks lineup on Tuesday after missing the previous four games with a lower-body injury.
However, goaltending has been a big reason for the Sharks' turnaround this season.
In their first 10 games of the season, the Sharks had a .857 save percentage and, perhaps not surprisingly, a 2-6-2 record.Over the next six games, the Sharks' save percentage of Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic rose to .961, and the team finished 5-0-1.
Nedeljkovic was expected to start against the Wildcats, but, for the Sharks, there was a personal problem shortly before the game.The Sharks asked for a third time in four games instead, with Nedeljkovic sitting on the bench.Nedeljkovic, for the Sharks, will leave the team and return to Jose San.
Asgarov hit 38th in a 38-hit performance Saturday in a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers.As of Tuesday, Askarov is 3-0-0 with a .972 save percentage in three starts this month.
