January 2, 2025; San Jose, California, United States; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) shoots the puck during the third period against San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) at SAP Middle in San Jose. Mandatory credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Photos
Mario Ferraro produced a fight and scored the game-winning goal, Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored a point in his season debut and the San Jose Sharks snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Thursday.
Ending an 0-7-1 skid, the Sharks beat the Lightning for just the third time in the last 14 meetings (3-10-1).
Ferraro put the hosts up 2-0 in the second period after fighting with Mitchell Chaffee early in the fourth.
Tyler Toffoli scored his team-leading 15th goal for San Jose.
Vlasic returned after missing camp and the first 40 games of the season due to an upper back injury. Playing in the 1,297th game of his career, the 19-year-old veteran helped Toffoli score.
San Jose’s Collin Graf, in his season debut, played left back on the second line with center Macklin Celebrini and right winger Will Smith. Luke Kunin skated in his 400th game.
In a matchup of Russian goaltenders, San Jose’s Yaroslav Askarov made 24 saves to edge out Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (23 saves).
Anthony Cirelli scored the Lightning’s only goal. Left winger Jake Guentzel returned from a one-game injury absence.
The Sharks’ young talent had plenty of jump in the first period, putting up much more of a fight than in the 8-1 loss in Tampa on Dec. 5. On that occasion, the Lightning led 5-0 after one period. .
Askarov stood out in goal with seven early saves, including a point-blank save from Conor Geekie, before Toffoli scored by dragging his toes around defenseman Ryan McDonagh at 13:52.
After each club missed a power-play opportunity in the second, Ferraro finished off a pass from Granlund quickly and put the Sharks up 2-0 at 12:55.
Cirelli finally got the visitors on the board in transition with a long shot from Erik Cernak at 17:44 of the second period.
With just over four minutes left in the third, Askarov preserved the one-goal lead by sliding and stopping Nick Paul at the far post with a glove save against an open net.
Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman went to the locker room with 10:57 left after being cut when a puck hit him near his ear. He didn’t come back.
–Media at field level
