The San Jose Sharks are back at the SAP Center tonight as they host the Los Angeles Kings for their second and final game of their opening homestand. The Sharks were able to clinch a victory from the jaws of defeat after nearly clinching defeat from the jaws of victory against the Florida Panthers on opening night. They went up 3-0, then surrendered that lead and allowed the Panthers to tie things up in the third period before Luca Cagnoni was the overtime hero, giving the Sharks their first win on opening night in half of a decade. Sharks Start 1-0 for the First Time in Five Years, Overcome Prior Habits [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/5993e89a-f11e-474c-a16b-068b9e6dcf5e.jpeg] Sharks Start 1-0 for the First Time in Five Years, Overcome Prior Habits 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. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/san-jose-sharks/latest-news/sharks-start-1-0-for-the-first-time-in-five-years-overcome-prior-habits] Tonight, the Sharks need to find a way to truly overcome some of their bad habits. Although they got the result against the Panthers, they still didn't play a full sixty minutes which has become the hallmark of their rebuild. Now that Mike Grier has started moving this team away from a rebuild and toward contention, that habit needs to stay in the past. They need to keep their foot on the gas all night and they can't give up two goals in 17 seconds to let their opponent back in the game. The Sharks also need to be considerably more disciplined. This extends beyond just the young players who you'd expect to spend some time in the box, as the only part of the young core to take a penalty, besides Collin Graf's fighting major, was Cagnoni. Otherwise, it was the veterans heading to the box. Darnell Nurse, who is infamous for taking a considerable amount of penalties, had two almost identical infractions on opening night. Kiefer Sherwood went to the box twice, and Mason Marchment also took a penalty. The Sharks can't spend more than half of a period on the penalty kill each night and expect to find success in the long-run. Faceoffs are another key area that need drastic improvement going forward. Of the Sharks' four centers, only Alexander Wennberg won more faceoffs than he lost on opening night. Macklin Celebrini was an even 50%, which is acceptable given everything else he does on the ice. Michael Misa was at 45.5% against Florida, which isn't great but it's not the end of the world if it happens once in a while. Zack Ostapchuk on the other hand went 0-for-7 at the faceoff dot, which is unacceptable for a penalty killing fourth-line center. He'll need to be more effective in that regard moving forward. Projected Kings Lines (Per Mayor's Manor [http://mayorsmanor.com/2026/10/projected-lineups-kings-at-sharks-plus-pregame-notes-and-how-to-watch/]) Panarin - Byfield - Kempe Zuccarello - Turcotte - Laferriere Moore - Haula - Laughton Armia - Perry Edmundson - Clarke Dumoulin - Doughty Anderson - Ceci Gustafsson Forsberg Kuemper More on the Kings: Know Your Enemy: San Jose Sharks Host Los Angeles Kings [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/780d82ec-f035-4399-bb0d-7ce5d9bfd14b.jpeg] Know Your Enemy: San Jose Sharks Host Los Angeles Kings As the band behind the San Jose Sharks' new goal song, Green Day, once sang, "Do you know your enemy? Gotta know the enemy." As a result, this season we'll take a look at the Sharks' enemies heading into each game day. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/san-jose-sharks/game-day/know-your-enemy-san-jose-sharks-host-los-angeles-kings] Projected Sharks Lines (Per Max Miller [https://x.com/Real_Max_Miller/status/2106435134245290199]) Marchment - Celebrini - Smith Stenberg - Wennberg - Graf Chernyshov - Misa - Toffoli Goodrow - Ostapchuk - Sherwood Nurse - Kesselring Dickinson* - Allan Orlov - Cagnoni *Jacob Trouba is a game-time decision due to illness, if he plays, he'll take Dickinson's spot for the second straight game. Askarov Nedeljkovic
