The San Jose Sharks are still seeking their first victory of the season as they visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
Bad starts are nothing new for San Jose, as it has become the first team since the Boston Bruins in the 1960-1961 and 1961-62 seasons to go winless in at least the first eight games of consecutive seasons. The Sharks (0-6-2) opened the 2023-23 campaign with an 0-10-1 mark.
The Sharks are set to play their third outing of a four-game road stretch before heading home for four consecutive contests. San Jose has scored just three goals on the trip while allowing three goals in each of the first two losses.
The Sharks came up a goal short in a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
Veteran center Mikael Granlund, who has been a rare bright spot for the Sharks, scored twice Thursday to give him three goals and five assists during his current five-game point streak.
Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t mince words when speaking to the media following Thursday’s loss, stressing his team needs steady play.
“We need a lot of guys to step up,” he said. “Be more consistent night after night, and we’re just not getting that at all. A lot of passengers. And when one guy’s going, the next night he’s not going, so we got to find some consistency in our game.”
The Sharks will continue to be without 2024 first-overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini, who remains sidelined with a lower-body injury and is listed as week-to-week. Meanwhile, their first pick in the 2023 draft, center Will Smith, is still seeking his first career point.
Vegas, however, enters the matchup on a high note following a thrilling victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
Despite not holding a lead until Keegan Kolesar struck with less than three minutes remaining to make the score 5-4, the Golden Knights secured a 6-4 win to remain perfect on home ice so far this season.
Ivan Barbashev, who leads all Golden Knights with seven goals, scored twice in the win.
The Golden Knights boast one of the league’s best offenses so far, scoring six goals in each of their past two games and fewer than three goals just once in the first 10 games.
Still, they got off to a slower start on Friday than Kolesar would have liked.
“That should be a lesson to us all that if we can turn it on right from the start, it’d have been an easier game for us,” he told reporters after the game.
Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague scored in the first period and left later with a lower-body injury. Head coach Bruce Cassidy said he was unsure about Hague’s status for Saturday.
William Karlsson is slated to make his season debut for Vegas on Saturday. Karlsson, who had 30 goals and 30 assists last season, suffered an undisclosed injury in training camp. While it is uncertain where Karlsson will slide into the lineup, he certainly give a boost to one of the NHL’s top offensive groups.
The Golden Knights have history on their side, having won four consecutive matchups with the Sharks.
