The San Jose Sharks keep losing. Here’s why they feel there’s better days just ahead

The San Jose Sharks lost their ninth straight game to open the season Sunday. But to coach David Quinn and a few of his players, this one felt a little bit different.

Welcoming center Mikael Granlund back to the lineup after a seven-game absence, the Sharks hung into the puck longer, improved their forecheck and breakouts, and created a few more scoring chances – at least more than they had earlier on their road trip and during their season-opening homestand.

The result, though, remained the same, as the Sharks allowed third-period goals to Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson before they gave up an empty-netter to Evgeny Kuznetsov in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

Mackenzie Blackwood was terrific in net as he made 39 saves. But as had been the case in seven of the Sharks’ first eight games, their goalie needed to be perfect for them to earn their first win of the season.

With the one goal, a first-period marker by Luke Kunin, the Sharks (0-8-1) became the ninth team in NHL history, and the second since the center red line was introduced in 1943, to score just nine goals or fewer in their first nine games.

“Right now we have such a thin margin for error,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Usually if you only give up two goals, you like your chances. But right now, we’re really snake-bit.”

On the tying goal at the 2:18 mark of the third period, Mike Hoffman tried to glove down a head-manning pass inside the Sharks’ blue line. Instead, the puck went off his hand and right to the Capitals. Strome later took a Nick Jensen pass and fired a shot that got past a screened Blackwood.

On a scramble beside the Sharks’ goal, Wilson chipped a puck over goalie Mackenzie Blackwood which went off defenseman Kyle Burroughs into the net with 4:45 left in regulation time for a 2-1 Capitals lead.

Kuznetsov then added an empty net goal for the Capitals with 58 seconds left.

Kunin’s goal, his first since Nov. 27 of last season, came at the 11:40 mark of the first period.

After some work deep in the Capitals’ zone, William Eklund got the puck back to the blue line, where it swung around to defenseman Ty Emberson, who fired it toward the Washington net. Kunin picked up the loose puck around the net, and chipped it past Darcy Kuemper, giving San Jose the lead.

Granlund, who had been out with a lower-body ailment since the Sharks’ season-opening game on Oct. 12, centered a line with Kunin and Eklund. That line was easily San Jose’s best in terms of creating scoring chances, as they finished with 11, per Natural Stat Trick, and all other lines combined for just nine.

Still, having Granlund back after he was activated earlier Sunday, and the play of his line — including a rapidly improving Eklund – gives the Sharks some hope that better days might be just ahead.

Hey, when you’ve held a lead just three times in nine games, there’s nowhere to go but up.

“Obviously, I’ve been out of the lineup for a while, but I think tonight we were creating something a little bit, like actual chances,” said Granlund, who had two shots on net in 17:47 of ice time. “It’s just a step in the right direction. But, still, we only got one and it’s hard to win in this league if you only get one goal.”

Kunin’s goal snapped a goalless drought of 163 minutes and 10 seconds, the third longest in Sharks history. San Jose had been shut out in each of its last two games, in losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, and hadn’t scored since the second period of their game on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.

“It’s nice, but I want to win hockey games,” Kunin said of his goal. “When we win, all of that stuff will come for everyone. But it comes down to execution as far as doing the right thing so we can win. That’s all I’m focused on.”

“There’s a lot of good things that come out of (this),” Quinn said. “You look at the record and the way we lost – giving up a goal with about five minutes to go — it’s deflating. It’s a kick in the ass. But it’s a long, long season. People are going to go through some losing streaks — maybe not to the extent we have so far — but we’re going in the right direction. We’re going to keep getting better and keep working on it.

“It’s a balancing act from a coaching standpoint because you’ve got to be honest and positive in the same breath. You’ve got to deliver some bad news, but you’ve also got to tell them that if we do A, B, and C, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I think that’s what they’re seeing. And I think they feel better about what happened tonight.”

NOTE: With Granlund added to the roster, the Sharks reassigned forwards Jacob Peterson and Thomas Bordeleau. Both had played in six games with the Sharks this season; Peterson didn’t have a point and Bordeleau had a goal and an assist. Emberson’s assist on Kunin’s goal was his first NHL point.