Sharks Headed to Historically Bad Season in 1-Goal Games

LOS ANGELES — The San Jose Sharks just can’t win one-goal games.

They lost another last night to the Los Angeles Kings 4-3. Their record in one-goal games is now 5-6-8, “good” for an NHL-worst .263 One-Goal Game Winning %.

“We’re there every game. Can’t get wins. It’s frustrating for everyone,” San Jose Sharks alternate captain Nick Bonino said. “Tonight was just a lot of good things and one or two bad things and we lost.”

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At this rate, this would be only the second time in franchise history that the Sharks finish last in One-Goal Game Winning %.

In 1992-93, their second season in existence, San Jose went 5-21 – there were ties back then – for a league-worst .192 One-Goal Game Winning %.

Those “one or two bad things” that Bonino is referring to, a staple of the San Jose Sharks season, befell the Sharks after they tied the game at two apiece midway through the third period.

Outskill, outsmart, and outwork your opponent are the three things that you can do to win hockey games, and the Sharks did none of that on the Gabriel Vilardi and Drew Doughty goals, scored within 53 seconds of each other, that gave LA a 4-2 lead and put another dagger into San Jose’s starcrossed season.

That lack of grace under fire – Matt Benning had time and space to clear the puck 25 seconds before the Vilardi goal, two Sharks Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson pinched on one King Alex Iafallo off an offensive zone faceoff loss, Karlsson struggled to keep up with the trailer and eventual game-winner Doughty, they couldn’t get a clutch stop from James Reimer – has plagued even the best Sharks performers all season.

It just seems like a season like no other for the Sharks.

“Honestly, I don’t think so,” Hertl said two weeks ago when asked if he had ever experienced a San Jose Sharks campaign like this one. “It’s nothing [about] what [they] do, it’s always us. A little mistake, and we just keep shooting our foot.”

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It’s in the numbers! Here San Jose’s One-Goal Game Winning % history: