San Jose Sharks finally win first game of 2023-24 season
About time.
On the heels of one of the worst starts in NHL regular season history, the San Jose Sharks have finally won their first game of the NHL season, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Tuesday evening at home.
It took the Sharks 12 games to finally get in the win column, giving them a 1-10-1 record. The Flyers have a goal differential of minus-43, far beyond Edmonton’s minus-18 in 31st place.
#sjsharks pick up their first win (1-10-1) and avoid becoming the first team in modern #NHL history to lose 12 straight to open a season.
They win 2-1 over PHI after losing last two games by 20-3 margin.
Anthony Duclair scored on a wrist shot just 1:43 into the game, giving the Sharks an early lead. William Eklund doubled up the advantage at 36:18 on a power-play slap shot goal, giving the Sharks their biggest lead of the entire season.
Joel Farabee would end MacKenzie Blackwood’s shutout two minutes later, but the former New Jersey Devils goaltender was able to shut things down the rest of the way with 38 saves.
The game got fiesty at points, with Nicolas Deslauriers and Givani Smith dropping the gloves at 4:06. Four players were given misconducts in the final seconds of the game, which featured various physical altercations.
Tomas Hertl leads the team in scoring with seven points, while Anthony Duclair tied Fabian Zetterlund for first with three goals apiece. The win was Blackwood’s first in a start since April 1, 2023 when he completed a three-game win streak.
The Sharks allowed 20 goals over a two-game span, with 10-1 and 10-2 losses to Vancouver and San Jose last week. San Jose will welcome the Edmonton Oilers to town on Thursday, with the chance for the Sharks to tie Edmonton’s point total of five after their own struggles.
San Jose shares the all-time NHL losing streak record of 17 in a row back in 1992-93, tying Washington’s run set in 1974-75. That was the Sharks’ second NHL campaign, with the team going 11-71-2 over 84 games.