Recap: Ducks Down Sharks 4-3 in Preseason Opener

The Ducks began the 2024 preseason with a comeback win tonight in San Jose, riding a four-goal second period to defeat the rival Sharks 4-3 at SAP Center.

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Carson Meyer and Mark Pysyk led Anaheim offensively with a goal and an assist apiece. Brett Leason and rookie Yegor Sidorov also scored. Boris Katchouk, Nikita Nesterenko, Rodwin Dionicio, Jansen Harkins and goaltender Oscar Dansk tallied assists.

Dansk and his fellow Swede, 22-year-old Calle Clang, split the evening in net for Anaheim, stopping 28-of-31 San Jose shots.

Danil Gushchin, Alexander Wennberg and Jack Thompson scored for the Sharks, who have now dropped each of their first two preseason games. Vitek Vanecek and Gabriel Carriere combined for X26saves.

San Jose led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Gushchin and Wennberg, the latter a power-play marker amidst a scramble in front of Anaheim's net.

The second period would be almost all Anaheim though, with four goals in a span of 16 minutes sending the visitors to the third with a narrow edge.

Meyer first put the Ducks on the board less than two minutes in to the middle frame, tracking down Dionicio's point shot that had bounced off the endwall behind the net and right to the far post for a tap-in goal.

Signed to a two-way contract in July, Meyer recorded a career-best 37 points in 55 AHL games last season with Cleveland.

Making his NHL preseason debut, Sidorov tied the game with six minutes to go in the second, hammering a power-play one-timer through Carriere.

The 20-year-old Sidorov will begin his professional career this fall after scoring 90 goals in 119 WHL games over the last two seasons.

Leason then delivered the go-ahead tally with a nice move in tight, pulling the puck around a Sharks defender in the low slot and beating Carriere low to the blocker side.

A winger throughout his NHL career, Leason has played center early in Ducks training camp and tonight centered a line between Brock McGinn and Nikita Nesterenko.

Pysyk would make it 4-2 Anaheim a couple shifts later with another power-play goal, finishing a give-and-go through the neutral zone with Meyer on a wrister past Carriere to the short side.

A 10-year NHL veteran, Pysyk joined the Ducks in training camp on a professional tryout (PTO) and finished his preseason debut with two points, a +2 rating, four shots and one blocked shot. Pysyk last played in the NHL for Buffalo during the 2021-22 season, collecting 12 points in 68 games played.

Thompson brought San Jose back within one in the final minute of the second, scoring the game's fourth power-play goal on a point shot that snuck through traffic and soared over Dansk's left shoulder.

The Ducks continue their six-game preseason slate Thursday, hosting the Sharks (7 p.m.) at Honda Center.