It was a bit of a nail-biter, but the San Jose Sharks' season-opening losing streak has ended at 11 games after beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Tuesday night to improve to 1-10-1 on the campaign.
Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves on 39 shots to help San Jose clinch its first victory of the year, while Anthony Duclair led the way offensively with one goal and one assist.
Duclair set the tone by burying a flashy feed from Kevin Labanc just under two minutes into the contest, while William Eklund struck on the power play late in the second frame.
Joel Farabee got the Flyers on the board just 2:33 after Eklund's tally to make it a one-goal game heading into the final frame.
Coming into Tuesday's action, the Sharks had allowed a whopping 19 goals against in the third period, but Blackwood didn't allow that trend to continue versus the Flyers: He turned aside all 15 shots he faced during the game's final stanza.
All in, Blackwood saved 2.19 goals above expected at all strengths during the victory, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Flyers heavily outshot the Sharks by a measure of 39-19.
"It's a lot of relief in here, everyone's happy," Blackwood said postgame, according to NBC Sports. "It's been a long time coming."
If the Sharks' losing streak had reached 12, they would have set a dubious new NHL record for the most defeats to start a season, according to San Jose Hockey Now's Sheng Peng.
Sharks head coach David Quinn was proud of his squad for avoiding that fate.
"I give these guys so much credit, they've been such a great group to coach," he said, per NBC Sports. "They never stop working, they're attentive, they work hard in practice. There's just so many things that went into tonight, and at some point you say, 'Enough's enough.'"
Quinn added, "It wasn't like we played great. I don't want to think, 'Oh wow they won a game.' We played the way we're capable of playing - we can play much better - but we checked a lot of boxes and showed some characteristics that we're going to need. I thought there were a lot of good things, but I thought we left a lot of offense on the table."
Prior to Tuesday's triumph, the Sharks had surrendered 10 goals in back-to-back games on home ice. The shoddy performances prompted general manager Mike Grier to hold a meeting with the players Monday as he aimed to address the "unacceptable" play.
Sharks forward Tomas Hertl joked that he "probably never" wanted a win this badly, even in the playoffs.
"(It was) probably the hardest start of my life, but I think we've worked really hard and that's why we won tonight," he said. "But it can't be just one game. We want to keep rolling from that and just be ready for the next game. ... We have to show up every night like that, otherwise it will be like the two games before.
"Hopefully now we can loosen up a little bit ... with the tough feeling behind us."
The Sharks get their first chance to string together two wins when they take on the Edmonton Oilers - the NHL's second-worst team in the standings - on Thursday.
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