Losing three of the first four games was not what the San Jose Sharks had in mind when the puck dropped on this NHL season a little more than a week ago.

San Jose dropped to 1-3-0 with a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders over the weekend, Tonight the Montreal Canadiens invade the Tank for the finale of the season-opening 5-game homestand and it sure would be nice to get that 2 pts.

While the record is poor, the Sharks effort hasn't been. With the exception of the L.A. loss, SJ has been the better team on the ice.

The Sharks looked like a team poised to earn its second win after grabbing an early 1-0 on a Kevin Labanc goals vs. the NYI. Then former Shark, Thomas Griess spent the rest of the night frustrating his former mates.

San Jose failed to score again, even though they carried the majority of play and won most of the statistical battles. The teal and black out-shot New York nearly 2-to-1 (41-23), won 65.4% of faceoffs, and enjoyed a special team advantage by scoring on their only power play and killing all three penalties they received.

This Sharks performance remained consistent with the previous three game trends. Through four games, San Jose is second in 5v5 chances among teams that have played no more than four games. They are winning nearly 60% of their draws (59.08%) and have allowed the second fewest shots against (104). Even when leading, tied or trailing they are out chancing their opponents. Plus the special teams are rounding into form with the younger group looking much better than anticipated in the early going.

Losing is never enjoyable, but their is a silver lining out there somewhere. The Sharks will find it when the puck luck finds them.

Tonight's foe, the Montreal Candiens (1-3-1) enter the game with just seven goals for and 17 goals against through the first five games. The Habs are losers of five in a row (0-4-1) and have been outscored 15-5 over that span.

Perhaps the puck luck will be on SJ's side tonight.

Thanks for reading,
Steve

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