Sharks set NHL record with historic early-season losing streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Sharks didn’t enter the NHL record books on Saturday night, but not in the way you’d hope.
San Jose’s 7-3 loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Center made the Sharks the first team in NHL history to lose nine straight games to start back-to-back seasons.
After a promising opening night that saw San Jose nearly usher in a new era at a high level, it all went downhill for the Sharks as they dropped their ninth straight game, with their most recent defeat coming at the hands of one of the franchise’s biggest rivals.
This comes one season after San Jose started the 2023–24 NHL season with eleven straight losses, tying the league record for most losses to start a season.
It’s been a particularly rough start for first-year coach Ryan Warsofsky, who is two losses away from tying the NHL record for consecutive losses to begin a coaching career.
“Good” news for Warsofsky: He is a few games removed from the worst start to an NHL coaching career ever.
Andre Tourigny lost his first eleven games (0-10-1) with the Arizona Coyotes in 2021-2022
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 27, 2024
Injuries have certainly played a role, as No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini hasn’t played a game since his stellar NHL debut while nursing a lower-body ailment.
While team success has yet to reach this season, Mikael Granlund continued his strong road trip with another goal in Saturday’s loss.
It was always going to be a bumpy ride for the Sharks as they integrated a core of young talent with a handful of newly acquired veterans, but it would have been difficult to predict a historically bad start like this. Especially after San Jose led 4-1 in the third period of their opening night loss to the St. Louis Blues.
The Sharks will seek their first win of the season in their first regular season game against the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night at 6:00 PM PT.
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