A 10-1 loss

[Brewin Flames]

Canucks score 10, hand Sharks 10th straight loss

Hughes has 5 points, Pettersson gets 3 assists for Vancouver

Recap: Canucks at Sharks 11.2.23

ByChelena Goldman

NHL.com Independent Correspondent

SAN JOSE -- Quinn Hughes had a goal and four assists, and the Vancouver Canucks handed the San Jose Sharks their 10th straight loss, 10-1 at SAP Center on Thursday.

 

"We have all four lines going, working hard, and it rolls other teams over and it's hard for teams to defend when rolling like that," said Hughes, the Vancouver captain. "We're going to need guys to keep [their foot] on the pedal there."

 

J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson each had three points for the Canucks (7-2-1), who extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1) and have won three of four. Thatcher Demko made 30 saves.

 

Vancouver was 4-for-5 on the power play.

 

"I think the power play kind of set the tone," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "We had three, four power-play goals. I think that really kind of set up the game for us. We were moving the puck well and obviously scoring some goals."

 

Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks (0-9-1), and Mackenzie Blackwood made 10 saves after entering the game in the second period to relieve Kaapo Kahkonen, who allowed six goals on 19 shots.

 

"I've never been in a situation like this, I don't think any of us [have], to be honest with you," San Jose forward Nico Sturm said. "I suppose the one good thing is that this is about as low as it's going to get. So, I suppose that's the only positive in this situation."

 

Boeser put Vancouver up 1-0 at 2:23 of the first period with a power-play goal off a pass by Pettersson.

 

Miller increased the lead to 2-0 on the power play at 4:00 when Boeser set him up for a backhand.

 

"Where we were at mentally, really, you could feel it on the bench. It deflated us and we never recovered," Sharks coach David Quinn said of the two quick goals. "Just really, really disappointing."

 

Hughes made it 3-0 at 8:00 with a shot from the blue line that bounced off Kahkonen's glove and into the net.

 

Boeser scored his second of the game, and second on the power play, at 16:49 to make it 4-0.

 

Ilya Mikheyev increased the Canucks' lead to 5-0 at 1:03 of the second period off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Pettersson and Carson Soucy.

 

“It’s 4- or 5-nothing, you still want the guys to play hard,” Tocchet said. “It’s nice to see some guys that haven’t scored get their confidence. Now, maybe it loosens guys up. It was nice to see.”

 

Andre Kuzmenko made it 6-0 at 8:47 when he drove the right side of the net and ran into Kahkonen as he scored. Kahkonen appeared to be shaken up and left the game.

 

Sam Lafferty shot past Blackwood to make it 7-0 at 12:35 on a wraparound, and Pius Suter made it 8-0 at 17:26.

 

Anthony Beauvillier made it 9-0 with a power-play goal at 3:10 of the third period and scored again to make it 10-0 at 11:58.

 

"I think we're just on the same page and we've been playing together for four or five years, so we kind of know each other's instincts," Hughes said of the power play.

 

Zetterlund got San Jose on the board with a wrist shot on the power play at 16:12 for the 10-1 final.

 

"Tonight, we didn't even give ourselves the chance to win, but it's going to happen," Quinn said. "I guarantee you that we're going to start playing like a team more consistently. We're going to start winning some hockey games here."

[Brewin Flames]

 

[OccamsRazor]

Damaged goods...

 

 

[Brewin Flames]

Followed up by another disgusting game....

 

10-2 loss vs the Penguins

 

 

San Jose Sharks tie NHL record with 11 losses to start season

 

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Reilly Smith and Jake Guentzel each had two goals and two assists, Evgeni Malkin also scored twice, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks 10-2 on Saturday night, handing the home team its NHL-record-tying 11th straight loss to start the season and second straight while allowing 10 goals.

 

Smith set the tone with two first-period goals as the Penguins -- who had lost five of their past six -- got back on track against the team with the league's worst record. Guentzel's goal early in the second that pushed Pittsburgh's lead to 3-0 was the 200th of his career.

 

Bryan Rust had a goal and three assists, and Vinnie Hinostroza, Kris Letang and Matt Nieto also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry had 24 saves.

 

For all the desperation that the winless Sharks might have brought to the rink, the Penguins said they wanted the win more after a 3-6 start.

 

"I don't think we like where we are this early in the season," Rust said. "Don't like our record, don't like some of the results. So we knew that we had to come out here tonight, try and get the win."

 

The Sharks fell to 0-10-1 to match the 11-game winless starts by the New York Rangers in 1943 and the Arizona Coyotes in 2017 and 2021. The last time a team allowed 10 or more goals in consecutive games was the Boston Bruins in 1965. The Sharks lost 10-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

 

San Jose has scored only 12 goals this season, and its minus-42 goal differential is the worst ever for an NHL team through 11 games.

 

Sharks coach David Quinn said his team is not a mentally tough group right now.

 

"I liked our first period, and then all of a sudden we became a different team," Quinn said. "That's what happened in the game. They kept playing the same way. We give up the third goal, and we're a fragile group."

Anthony Duclair and Jacob MacDonald scored power-play goals for San Jose.

 

"We're losing way too many battles," Duclair said. "It's way too easy for the opposing team coming in here. And in front of our fans ... I think our battle level is just nonexistent sometimes, and it's costing us."

 

The game also saw the return of Erik Karlsson to San Jose. The reigning Norris Trophy winner, who was traded to the Penguins in the offseason after five seasons with the Sharks, received an ovation after the video screen played a highlight montage in the first period.

 

It didn't take long for Karlsson to make an impact, assisting on Smith's power-play goal -- a wrist shot from the left point -- 90 seconds into the game. Smith scored his second midway through the first, tapping in a feed from Marcus Pettersson at point-blank range. The goal came off a Penguins counterattack after Jarry stopped Mike Hoffman on a 2-on-1 break.

 

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it means a little extra for Karlsson and Matt Nieto -- another former Sharks player now on the Penguins -- to return to San Jose.

 

"I'm sure it felt good for those guys to come back," Sullivan said. "I know they have a lot of fond memories here in San Jose. They speak very highly of the city and the fans and the organization."

 

Pittsburgh led 2-0 after the first period, and 7-1 after two. Sharks starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was pulled after allowing his sixth goal, and Magnus Chrona entered in the second period to make his NHL debut in net.

 

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby played in his 1,200th career game, becoming the first player in franchise history and 10th active player to reach the mark. Crosby assisted on Letang's goal in the second period.

 

"We felt like we've put stretches of games together where we think we've played well, and we haven't gotten rewarded for it," Sullivan said. "Tonight we did, and it should be one that we can build on."