It finally happened! The San Jose Sharks have won a hockey game for the first time during the 2023-24 season. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers at home. It was a long time coming but they finally got it done.
They started the season 0-10-1 so they only had the one point in the standings over the first month of the season. Now, they have avoided losing their first 12 games of the season. They would have been the first team in NHL history to do that.
1:43 into the game, the Sharks took a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal scored by Anthony Duclair. From there, it felt like this could be the game that they finally do it. Everyone in the hockey world seemed to be rooting for them to do it.
The score stayed 1-0 for a while. It wasn’t until the Sharks made it 2-0 thanks to a power play goal scored by William Eklund at 16:18 of the second period. About two minutes later, Joel Farabee pulled the Flyers back within one which made Sharks fans feel uneasy.
The San Jose Sharks were able to finally win their first game of the season.
Luckily, despite a good effort from Philly, there were no goals scored in the third, and that 2-1 score held as the final. The Flyers outshot the Sharks 39-19 so it was a dominating performance in that area but they found a way to hang on.
Mackenzie Blackwood was the star of the win as he made 38 saves on 39 shots. Without his great play, the Sharks would have been destroyed by the Flyers.
He has played as well as he can with this team in front of him and now he was finally rewarded. This was his first win with the Sharks after spending the first years of his career with the New Jersey Devils.
Now, the Sharks have to move on with the future in mind. Things are going to get worse before they get better but they finally have that win. A good position for the draft lottery is going to be their top priority at this point. They have some really nice prospects to be excited about already too.
Their next game will come on Thursday night. The Edmonton Oilers are on deck and they are off to a terrible start as well.
They only have one more win but they are expected to be a Cup contender so there is a major difference. This is the Sharks’ chance to win a big game and make things even harder for a division rival.