‘Team effort’ leads to Sharks’ miraculous comeback in first win of the season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Sharks’ first win of the 2024-2025 NHL season did not come easily.

San Jose made an incredible comeback in the final five minutes of Monday’s game against Utah Hockey Club, overcoming a three-goal deficit to force overtime and with a 5-4 win on Alexander Wennberg’s game-winning goal to come forward.

Despite scoring the winning goal in overtime, Wennberg made sure to credit the Sharks as a whole after the team stayed on course and broke its historic nine-game losing streak to open the season.

“It’s obviously a tough start to the season. We’ve been working hard and just had to find a way,” Wennberg told Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda on “Sharks Postgame Live” after the win at Delta Center. “But we talked about never giving up, and it shows here. We just keep fighting, keep fighting. …

“I think we really deserved a win today, and first of all, give it to the head coach (Ryan Warsofsky), the first win too. It’s just a whole team effort, and we’re definitely going to take this on board. “

It was indeed a team effort. Trailing 4-1 with just under five minutes left in the third period, Fabian Zetterlund scored his second goal of the game to cut Utah’s lead to two.

San Jose’s fight didn’t stop there. Mikael Granlund stayed hot with his fifth goal in four games, putting the Sharks within striking distance as the clock ticked down.

Tyler Toffoli’s tying goal with 2:42 remaining in regulation ultimately forced overtime, and the rest will be remembered as the Utah miracle.

The win allowed the Sharks to breathe a sigh of relief, just one game after setting an NHL record with nine-game losing streaks to start back-to-back seasons. For Toffoli, he and the rest of the Sharks knew they would eventually find themselves in the win column.

Now the task remains there.

“I think we believed in ourselves the whole time,” Toffoli told reporters after the game. “It was frustrating at times, but in the end it’s just one win and we have to build on that. We have to get better and we have to keep grinding. I have to keep working and getting better and keep having fun.

“It’s fun to win in hockey.”

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast