The Sharks hit South Florida on the Martin Luther King Jr holiday with entertaining game against the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena. San Jose threw a haymaker with a 3-goal 2nd period, then the game was filled with haymakers as San Jose swept the Panthers in the season series. The game was accentuated by a rare goaltender fight that offered fans a little of everything in the Sharks 4-1 win.

Outside of an entertaining hockey game, the Sharks got a taste of the rough and tumble style the brought a Stanley Cup Florida last season. A simple player scrum turned into a fight between goaltender's Alex Nedeljkovic and Sergey Bobrovsky in a wild 3rd period.

The Sharks held a 3-1 lead when Vincent Desharnais was drilled in the corner after he tripped a Panther. Players gathered to voice their displeasure including Nedeljkovic who was lurking around the scrum. Bobrovsky took exception to Nedeljkovic's participation so he stormed up ice and engaged the Sharks goaltender.

Goaltender's throwing punches is a bit amusing given all the padding they wear, but this one was spirited because the Panthers were trying to generate some momentum.

The Panthers were penalized for holding 5:44, but the NHL's 9th ranked penalty killers snuffed out the Sharks power play.

The two teams started to mix it up 3 minutes later when Vincent Desharnais and Matthew Tkachuk had an exchange that was more than just a war of words. The two skaters were both returning after long injury related absences. Unfortunately for San Jose, Desharnais was issued a slashing minor to put the Panthers on the man-advantage but the Sharks penalty kill was up to the task.

Florida has a 1-shot advantage on the counter after 20 minutes, but the game resumed scoreless.

San Jose got things rolling early in the 2nd period. Will Smith finally broke the ice 50 seconds into the second frame on a put back chance from the doorstep. Timothy Liljegren pumped a shot on goal that goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped, but he gave up a fat rebound. Smith was in the perfect spot to scoop it up and slide it around Bobrovsky's left pad.

The defense got in on the scoring and Desharnais made the most of his return to the lineup less than 2 minutes later when he put his 1st goal of the season past Bobrovksy after Igor Chernyshov drove the net and tried to force the matter from in tight. Desharnais followed up and lifted the rebound top shelf for the 2-0 Sharks lead.

Mario Ferraro added to the blueliner tally count for the year when he banged home another rebound at 6:12 after Chernyshov bounced a shot off Bobrovsky from the left side. Ferraro came crashing down the slot and put the puck into a wide open net for his 4th tally of the season.

The Panthers were credited with a power play at 9:30 when Pavol Regenda was assessed an extra minor after he and Uvis Balinskis mixed it up in the corner.

The Sharks killed that second penalty which provided them with more breathing room. The Panthers are an in-your-face team that feeds off of their physical play. San Jose negated all of that with the kill.

The Panthers made things interesting to start the 3rd period, when Eetu Luostarinen scored just 43 seconds into the period to cut the Sharks lead to two goals. The shot appeared to be tipped by Dmitri Orlov, lifting the puck over Nedeljkovic's right shoulder.

The goaltender dance livened up the crowd 6 minutes into the final period but the Panthers wouldn't capitalize on the melee.

Florida would try to mix things up again 6 minutes later when Anton Lundell tried roughing William Eklund but offsetting penalties were assessed.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky with 3 minutes to play. That opened up the ice and allowed Barclay Goodrow to bag an easy empty new goal for this 4th goal of the season.

Game Notes:

* The Sharks made news hours before the game started when GM Mike Grier announced the acquisition of forward Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks sent farmhand defenseman Cole Clayton, a 2026 2nd round pick and a 2027 2nd round pick to Vancouver or the power forward Sherwood.

* Vincent Desharnais returned to the lineup after missing the last 23 games with concussion related issues. He suffered the injury in late November.

* The last time Sharks goaltender was assessed a fighting major was in 1999, when Steve Shields dropped the mitts.

* Macklin Celebrini was held scoreless, snapping his 2-game scoring streak. That 's 2 pointless games for Celebrini in his last 4 games.

* The goaltender fight between Alex Nedeljkovic and Sergey Bobrovsky lit up both benches. The Sharks players were smiling and banging sticks as the two netminders went at it.