Ducks 3, Sharks 2: Takeaways on William Eklund, the power play and Adam Raska

SAN JOSE – The more rookies like William Eklund, Jonathan Dahlen, and Adam Raska have gotten to play this preseason, the bigger the impression they seem to make on the Sharks’ coaching staff.

All three players, along with Jasper Weatherby, earned some praise from coach Bob Boughner on Monday night after the Sharks’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center.

Dahlen and Eklund each had an assist and Raska had eight hits in the Sharks’ second-to-last preseason game. Dahlen assisted on Logan Couture’s second-period goal and Eklund assisted on Tomas Hertl’s third-period goal that tied the game 2-2.

“They’re making the decision tough, for sure,” Boughner said of the rookies. “All of those guys played well, they really did.”

The Sharks outshot the Ducks 44-25 as Ducks goalie John Gibson made 42 saves through regulation time and overtime.

Boughner suggested there will likely be some roster cuts coming Tuesday when the Sharks have a day off. The Sharks right now have 31 players in camp, and their final preseason game is Saturday at home against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Boughner said he wants to dress a lineup Saturday that closely resembles the one he’ll have in the season-opener against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 16.

“We’ll make tough decisions on what (lineup) we want Saturday night,” Boughner said, “because it’ll be the last chance for some of the other guys.”

Right now, the less-experienced guys are making a case to stay.

Here are some takeaways from Monday’s game.

EKLUND CONTINUES TO IMPRESS: Eklund was playing in his fourth preseason game Monday and once again showed that he might be ready for a spot on the NHL roster.

Eklund had eight shot attempts in the first two periods, with five shots on goal. He had the second assist on Hertl’s goal as he got the puck to Rudolfs Balcers, who quickly fired a shot on Gibson. Hertl was there for the rebound and beat Gibson from in close.

Eklund’s best work came on the power play, where he once again showed poise and a deft touch.

Most telling was a Sharks 4-on-3 in the first period, where Eklund was on the ice with Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl. The Sharks came up empty on that man advantage, but it was an indication from the Sharks’ coaching staff that they trust Eklund enough to be on the ice in that situation with those players.

“He’s going to improve our power-play if he’s here,” said Boughner, who was not quite ready to declare that Eklund has won a job. “One of his gifts is his offensive ability and I think that we wanted to see him in that situation 4-on-3. I liked the fact that he didn’t try and overpass tonight, even though he missed the net a couple of times, he was trying to get pucks to the net.”

Still, at this point, it would be a surprise if Eklund was not with the Sharks on Oct. 16.

POWER PLAY LOOKS DANGEROUS: Taking into account that it remains the preseason, and the opponent was the rebuilding Ducks, the Sharks’ power play is showing improvement.

The Sharks had nine shots on four power-play opportunities through two periods, as they did a good job of getting shots through and retrieving pucks. On Couture’s power-play goal, Dahlen made a nice seam pass to Timo Meier, whose shot from the circle was stopped by Gibson before Couture pounced on the rebound.

After finishing 29th in the NHL in power-play percentage (14.1) last season, the Sharks are taking a more basic approach to the man advantage this season: more pucks on net and traffic in front instead of trying to make perfect yet predictable plays.

“Gibson was really good tonight, but we didn’t get frustrated. We didn’t go off the script,” Boughner said. “We stuck to the plays. You saw the way we generated that goal off the face-off. We want that thing to the net as quick as possible.

“(Dahlen) made a great seam pass to Timo, and guys are going to the net and getting that second opportunity. That’s got to be our mentality.”

OTHER COMPETITIONS: Jasper Weatherby also looks like he’ll be on the roster Oct. 16. Weatherby faced more of a physical test Monday by the Ducks, as he took a couple of hits and dished a couple out as well. Weatherby also won seven of 12 faceoffs.

Jeffrey Viel fought Sam Carrick just five seconds into the game, but was injured during the scrap and did not return to the game. It’s unclear how serious the upper body injury is — Boughner said he thought Viel would be OK in a couple days — but it might open the door for Adam Raska to make the team as a 13th or 14th forward.

Raska was in the middle of everything, winning races and battles for pucks, and again showed he is not afraid to mix it up and play the agitator role. Raska had eight hits in 13:23 of ice time.

“He’s a guy who just plays within himself every night and knows how he needs to play to have success, and he’s done that,” Boughner said of Raska. “You look around our division and our conference and every team’s got some grit and sandpaper.

“If you look at our team, it’s something that at times we had last year with Kurtis (Gabriel) and (Viel) when we called him up, but we didn’t have it consistently. I like (Raska’s) game 5-on-5. I think that he’s an effective player and he’s good on the wall. He’s a guy that’s going to make another tough decision for us because he does supply that identity to that bottom part of our lineup.”