SAN JOSE – Kaapo Kahkonen stated on the day he signed a two-year contract extension with the Sharks this offseason that he wanted to establish himself as the team’s No. 1 goalie.
Kahkonen got a chance to make an opening argument Sunday night and finished with 43 saves for the Sharks in a penalty-filled 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center in the first game of the preseason for both teams.
Logan Couture scored at the 3:33 mark of overtime off a pass from Erik Karlsson for the winning goal.
Kahkonen played the entire game and had five saves in an uneventful first period, followed by 20 in the second when the Sharks took six minor penalties. Of Kahkonen’s first 25 saves, 13 came on the penalty kill, with five coming when the Sharks were down two men.
“He was very good tonight, that’s for sure,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of Kahkonen. “The second period, it seemed like we were on the penalty kill the whole 20 minutes, five on threes and things like that. He made some big saves.
“He’s a good goalie. He’s been a good goalie throughout his career and we’re fortunate to have him.”
Luke Kunin, acquired in the offseason from the Nashville Predators, scored at the 6:25 mark of the first period for the Sharks, as he redirected a nifty pass from Tomas Hertl past Jonathan Quick. Timo Meier scored at the 9:50 mark of the third period, as he tipped a Matt Benning shot past Kings backup goalie Matt Villata.
Carl Grundstrom scored 59 seconds into the third period, as he got position near the Sharks’ crease and redirected a Brandt Clarke pass into an open net. Grundstrom then assisted on Blake Lizotte’s goal on an odd-man rush with 2:35 left in the third period to tie the game 2-2.
The Sharks and Kings had 15 power plays between them, with Los Angeles finishing with eight.
Kahkonen, 26, finished last season with a 14-14-4 record and a .912 save percentage. That included a 2-6-1 mark with the Sharks after he and a 2022 fifth-round draft pick were acquired in March from the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Jacob Middleton.
Kahkonen had a solid .916 save percentage in 11 games for a depleted Sharks team, and signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract with the Sharks as a restricted free agent in July.
Kahkonen said after the deal was announced that he wants to be the goalie that starts most nights, and that mindset has remained the same. He’s competing with James Reimer to be the Sharks’ No. 1, and Quinn said he wouldn’t mind seeing one of his goalies take the reins and play somewhere around 50 to 55 games.
“Every day from the start of camp, I’ve felt better myself,” Kahkonen said. “I’m 100 percent focused on getting my game to that level and not really paying attention to the other stuff around.”
“That’s what you want,” Quinn said. “When you have the two goalies that we have, it creates that type of competition. I think it elevates both of their games.”
There isn’t much time left for Kahkonen, Reimer, and the Sharks to get ready for the regular season.
The Sharks play four more preseason games this week, including split-squad games in Vegas and Anaheim on Friday. Then they fly to Europe on Saturday and face the Predators on Oct. 7 in Prague in the regular season opener.
INJURY UPDATE: The Sharks have their first injury of training camp, as winger Alexander Barabanov is now considered day-to-day with a lower-body ailment.
Barabanov was hurt on the ice Saturday morning prior to a scheduled scrimmage at Sharks Ice. Coach David Quinn said after the scrimmage that he thought Barabanov could be back on the ice Sunday, but he did not skate in the morning and was not in the lineup for the game.
“He’s doing fine,” Quinn said of Barabanov before Sunday’s game. “He’s getting better. He was better today than yesterday.”
The Sharks have the day off Monday before they host Anaheim on Tuesday.
