It's only two games, but it feels so much worse for the lackluster San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are a team in flu, off to its first 0-2 start since the 2005-06 season.

Following a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings over the weekend, the coaching staff and players have to be doing a bit of soul-searching. The effort against LA was lackluster at best. The Kings played harder and outworked their NorCal rivalsin all aspects. The Sharks admitted that their compete level was not up to par and the Kings took advantage of that in a big way.

In this league you have to play fast, play hard and play loose. That's evident early on in this NHL season with the young, fast teams in New Jersey and Toronto grabbing league headlines out of the gate.

Right now the Sharks are none of that and it's painful to watch.

San Jose had the last three days off to get back on track and the practices have been busy, intentional and positive. Head coach Pete Deboer shuffled his lines up a bit in an effort to strike a positive chord with the teams overall chemistry. Right now, there is none whatsoever.

Tomas Hertl was moved up to a line with Logan Couture and Mikkel Boedker. While Chris Tierney moved down to the third-line to center Timo Meier and Joonas Donskoi. Tierney and Meier had some chemistry in the past and Deboer is hoping to get some of that magic back. All the early season shuffling is obviously an attempt to get some offense out of a team that has four goals in two games.

Let's put that in perspective based on the first week of the NHL season.... keep in mind the Hawks put up a ten spot on the Pens and the Devils have scored 16 goals through their first three games of the season.

There is some good news for tonight's game. The Buffalo Sabres are a mess. They embarrassed themselves in a 6-2 loss to NJ on Monday and are having a heck of a time staying out of their own way. Expect Evander Kane. He's a beast with four goals already. Kane is the lobe bright spot for an otherwise dull club.

Just like San Jose, the Sabres are looking for their first win on the season. Additionally, they are looking for ways to score goals, while keeping pucks out of their own net. Buffalo is 0-2-1 and have allowed six goals in each of the last two games. Sounds like a San Jose slump-buster to me.

Three thing to watch for tonight...

1. Can the Sharks offense wake up? San Jose went almost half a season before scoring five goals in a game in 2016-17. Phil Hously's Sabres are playing like chum. The Sharks sound hungry. They need a feeding frenzy tonight.

2. Will a new spot in the lineup help Tomas Hertl's offensive game wake up? Or is believing Hertl has an offensive game just wishful thinking?

3. Will the Sharks get their first "W" of the season tonight? The last time San Jose lost the first three games of a season was more that 15 years ago.

Thanks for reading,
Steve

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