The San Jose Sharks left winger Anthony Duclair (10) attempts to put the puck on net against the Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) in the third period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Nov 2, 2023 (AP News photo)

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Jose, CA – The San Jose Sharks are back home and they are coming off a winless opening month of hockey and they hope to start the month of November off with a win. That will come with a challenge though as they face off against the Vancouver Canucks who are looking like one of the best teams in the Western Conference this early in the season. 

The first period for San Jose was why they’re projected to be not only the worst team this season, but one of the worst teams in NHL history. Two and a half minutes into the game, the Canucks scored a power play goal after Nico Sturm’s high sticking minor.

The goal was scored by Brock Boeser (assisted by Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes) on a great slap shot that followed elite passing, 1-0 Vancouver. Not even two minutes later J.T. Miller scored the second goal, still on the power play, but this time when Boeser cleared the puck it ricocheted off the boards and Miller scooped it and backhanded it past Kaapo, 2-0 Vancouver.

The spiral continued four minutes later after another was scored, but this one is attributed to sloppy defense from the Sharks. The goal was scored by Hughes, who at this point had three points (1 goal and 2 assists) and the building might as well have been here for drinks and atmosphere.

Thatcher Demko of Vancouver stopped all six shots the Sharks brought his way, but the story here was the Sharks defense never leaving the starting blocks. A Mario Ferraro tripping penalty gave the Sharks their second penalty, but more importantly it gave Boesar his second goal of the game (assisted by Andrei Kuzmenko and Miller) and by the end of the opening period, the Sharks made their way back to the locker room down 4-0. 

The second period was even worse for the Sharks and it felt like the end of the road for San Jose. One minute in the period and Vancouver immediately jumped on the Sharks with a one time goal by Ilya Mikheyev (assisted by Soucy and Pettersson), 5-0 Canucks.

The next goal for Vancouver was not only bad, because it added to the avalanche of goals, but Kaapo Kahkonen was injured during the goal. Andrei Kuzmenko scored with assists by Pettersson and Mark Friedman to make it 6-0, but the damage was done.

Kahkonen was out with an injury and Mackenzie Blackwood was in, but the scoring didn’t stop. Sam Lafferty would add to this with a wrap-around goal and it was 7-0.

The fourth goal of the period for the Canucks was by Pius Suter for his first of the season, but on this goal Quinn Hughes got the assist and by the end of this second period, Hughes had five points in an 8-0 lead as the we were in the second intermission.

Sharks fans booed and some walked out, but it was clear that air was taken out of the building. This is Coach David Quinn’s 300th game and this might be the game where fans call for his job. The stats show that it’s not his fault this Sharks team is this bad, but don’t tell that to these fans. 

The final period wasn’t any different from the rest of the game if anything it was David’s nightmare. “Fire Quinn” chants began after Anthony Beauvillier scored on a power play to make it 9-0 and we were only three minutes into the period.

 Beauvillier scored his second goal eight minutes after his first and at this point it was 10-0 and the Canucks had scored more goals in one game than the Sharks have all season. By the end of this game the Sharks scored one goal by Fabian Zetterlund and the crowd that was still in attendance popped for it, but the game was more than over, it was a goal for Quinn.

The next game for San Jose is against some familiar foes when they face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins and this is Erik Karlsson’s first game back in San Jose with his new team and this doesn’t look good for the Sharks as analysts project another loss for the Sharks, but that seems like the what whole regular season is projected at this point.