During the 2022-23 season, the San Jose Sharks lost five games before they could win their first of the season. The following year, that number grew to eleven in David Quinn's final year behind the bench. When Ryan Warsofsky took over during the 2024-25 season, it took until the tenth game to earn a victory and then last season, they lost six straight before defeating the New York Rangers on the road. All of this to say, the Sharks have a reputation for slow starts.
Even though every single season opener during Ryan Warsofsky's tenure has gone to overtime, the Sharks' victory on Thursday night gave them their first 1-0-0 start in half of a decade. The last time the Sharks won their first game of the season was when Bob Boughner was behind the bench on October 16, 2021 against the Winnipeg Jets. That sparked a four-game winning streak to start the season, something the current Sharks will hope to replicate.
Even though the Sharks were able to win, it wasn't pretty as they nearly continued a trend from last season, as after taking a 3-0, the Sharks allowed Florida to tie things up. "Talking to guys this morning, I'm sure it's a weight off their shoulders as well," Warsofsky said. "There's a lot of talk about it. I'm proud of the group for playing through that and understanding that. I'm hoping they're taking a little bit of joy in this win and appreciating it. [Once the clock] turns to 12:01, we'll get ready for LA."
"We talked about that a lot over the years," Will Smith, who scored two goals to open the season, said of the Sharks' struggles to maintain leads. "Especially in the first game of the year, for some reason we gave up some leads. We're working on it and we had no quit. We went out there and executed."
"There was a lot going on in that game, a lot we can kind of build off of and learn from," Warsofsky said. "We said it before the game. It wasn't going to be perfect, but we wanted to show our identity, and I thought we did that more often tonight than we probably have in the last couple years."
"Not waiting six games to get your first win, [that's a] step in the right direction against a very good team over there," Macklin Celebrini added.
The Sharks won't have to wait long to try to keep the momentum rolling, as they'll host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
