Younger, less-experienced Sharks unable to slow down Hurricanes

Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News on Mar 21, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks roster seems to be getting younger and less experienced with each passing week.

The Sharks shipped a handful of veterans to contending teams before the NHL trade deadline on March 7, and on Thursday, defenseman Luca Cagnoni made his NHL debut and goalie Georgi Romanov made his first NHL start.

Predictably, the Sharks are going to take some lumps as a result, as a goal they allowed to Sebastian Aho at the 4:58 mark of the third period proved to be the difference in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at SAP Center.

On the winning goal, Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake shook off a check from Sharks rookie defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and got the puck to Aho, who one-timed a shot past Romanov to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Sean Walker added an insurance goal at the 14:18 mark of the third period for Carolina, which won its eighth straight game.

William Eklund scored the lone goal for San Jose, which has now lost five of its last six. Romanov finished with 26 saves.

Eklund’s goal, his 14th of the season, came at the 13:00 mark of the first period.

With the Sharks killing a hooking penalty to forward Zack Ostapchuk, Ty Dellandrea won a puck battle along the wall and got it to Eklund. He carried into the Carolina zone and fell as defenseman Brent Burns tripped him, but the puck continued to slide forward and got past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen.

Carolina got that goal back in the second period.

Mukhamadullin had the puck in the corner but lost it below the goal line. After the puck went off the side of the net, Mukhamadullin tried to clear it, but sent it to Jarvis, who beat Romanov with a shot high to the blocker side.

Cagnoni faced a huge test Thursday as he made his NHL debut against one of the top forechecking teams in the league in Carolina. In one sequence, after a faceoff in the Sharks’ zone, Cagnoni turned the puck over, leading to some chances for the Hurricanes and a shift that lasted 2:12.

Cagnoni was second among all AHL defensemen this season with 47 points in 56 games with the Barracuda, bur simply wasn’t going to have the same time and space he enjoyed on the farm.

“The puck has got to move, and you’ve got to be ready to make your decision before you get the puck,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said about how Cagnoni needed to approach playing the Hurricanes. “Obviously, there’s going to be some adjustment period of the pace, especially against this team. But we think that’s one of (Cagnoni’s) best things he can do, is break out of puck.

“Play towards your strengths but have an understanding that the first guy’s coming and the second guy is on top. We’ve got to be ready to move pucks tonight.”

Cagnoni was recalled from the Barracuda on Tuesday after Jimmy Schuldt was returned to the AHL. Schuldt, though, was brought back Wednesday after Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s upper body injury flared up after practice. It’s unclear how much time Vlasic will have to miss,

Romanov’s chances to prove himself at this level might be precious.

The Sharks now have just 13 games left this season and No. 1 Alexandar Georgiev figures to get the bulk of the work, perhaps starting with Saturday’s home game against the Boston Bruins.

It’s also possible that Yaroslav Askarov will return to the NHL before the end of the regular season. Askarov remains out with a lower body injury, but there is some hope he can rejoin Barracuda practices next week.

So, at least for now, Romanov, a pending restricted free agent, figures to remain with the Sharks.

“I don’t think about contract right now,” Romanov said Wednesday. “I need concentration on my practices, on how I work on ice, off ice, how I work, how I play, and I try to concentrate on my target, and my target right now is to show my best game, my best version.”