What is it with the San Jose Sharks and slow starts now? The Sharks Sterility Stare (Redux) checks in on Sunday evening with an update here again as the Boys in Teal. They won in overtime against Columbus on Tuesday night at home before losing on Thursday evening in San Jose against Minnesota. But in the first game of a four-game road trip today, the Sharks shutout the New Jersey Devils, 1-0, for their first blanking.

San Jose current record for 2024-2025: 5-9-2 (.375)
Sharks projected record for 82 games this season: 29-50-3 (.372)
San Jose record last year (2023-2024): 19-54-9 (.287)
NHL record for worst season in 82-game history: 14-57-11 (.238)

To recap now, then, the team started out 0-7-2 but has now won five of its last seven games. Remember last year, when something similar happened, too: the danger will be not sliding back into bad habits when this hot streak ends. Overall, San Jose is looking at five more road games in its next six overall, so keeping up the hard efforts really needs to happen right now. Mentally, the Sharks are playing NHL hockey now … finally.

Why the slow starts? We don’t know; we can worry about that next October. Right now, we’re just going to enjoy the shutout and the winning momentum, without overthinking it. In truth, we are tired this week, and even with the national holiday tomorrow, we will be exhausted for a long time, for many reasons. For now, we take solace that two teams in the league are worse than San Jose: Montréal and Nashville. Matters!

We give props to goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, as he is very inconsistent. With a 3-4-2 record now, you never know what you will get: in his first eight appearances this year, though, he was semi-solid, giving up between two and five goals every time. Tonight’s shutout was his first of the year and his third overall with the Sharks; considering the porous defense, it’s something that he still give a serious effort every time.