Sharks win again, defeat Maple Leafs to move into 2nd wild card in West

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks won their fourth straight game to move into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a 4-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at SAP Center on Thursday.

San Jose, which has one game in hand, is tied in points with the Los Angeles Kings and the Nashville Predators.

Zack Ostapchuk and William Eklund each had a goal and an assist, Collin Graf and Adam Gaudette each scored, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 18 saves for the Sharks (36-31-7), who have won the first three games of a six-game homestand and have points in their past five (4-0-1). Alexander Wennberg had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, three assists).

"It's something we talked about, right? We need guys to contribute in a lot of different areas," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "The more guys we get going, the more guys contributing, is going to help our group in the long term."

John Tavares scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs (32-31-13), who are 3-2-0 in their past five games and have officially been eliminated from playoff contention.

Ostapchuk put the Sharks up 1-0 at 3:27 of the first period. He got the puck off a stretch pass from Barclay Goodrow and got a wrist shot from the right circle under Toronto defenseman Simon Benoit's stick and over Stolarz's glove.

Graf pushed the Sharks' lead to 2-0 at 17:43. After the Sharks created a turnover, Michael Misa backhanded it to Graf behind him in the left face-off circle, who put the puck into the top right corner over Stolarz's glove. The goal marks Graf's 20th of the season, the first time he has reached that milestone in his NHL career.

"It's exciting. If you asked me at the start of the year, I probably wouldn't have said I would have gotten there. It's a nice milestone to get," Graf said. "It's an even bigger two points. We're all working toward playoffs here."

Eklund put the Sharks up 3-0 at 1:42 of the second period. Eklund took a pass from Wennberg at the top of the right face-off circle, and despite his shot going wide of the net, the puck bounced back off the end boards and hit Stolarz's left pad to cross the goal line.

"It's been the theme of my year, a little bit. Creating a lot of chances, but can't get the puck in," Eklund said. "It's nice to get a bounce."

Tavares scored a power-play goal to cut it to 3-1 at 6:43. While on a three-on-two, Easton Cowan passed to Tavares at the left dot, and his snap shot beat Nedeljkovic over the blocker.

"I thought our puck play wasn't quite as sharp as it was the other night. That competitiveness to raise your game was pretty (much) there," Tavares said.

Gaudette scored an empty-net goal at 19:03 of the third period for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: The Sharks recorded their second winning streak of four games this season after previously doing so from Nov. 5-11. The last time they had a longer run was Nov. 5-16, 2019 (6-0-0). ... Misa assisted on Graf’s goal to put San Jose up 2-0. The Sharks have a total of 135 points from players age 19 or younger in 2025-26, which is the sixth most in a single season in NHL history. ... The Sharks improve to 2-16-3 this season when forward Macklin Celebrini does not register a point.