This San Jose Sharks team has enjoyed multiple extended losing streaks this season. Losing eleven in a row should not come as a surprise to anyone anymore. It's been a rough season for a team that is enduring a rebuild in the Bay Area, but at least it's not a Detroit Pistons-length losing streak. It's still an incredibly painful experience for this fanbase. It's embarrassing to watch this team lose game after game after game.
If we look at the scores from this losing streak, perhaps we can see the problem. It starts with a 1-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, a 6-2 to the Avalanche, 4-1 loss to the Kinga, 5-2 to the Coyotes this time, 7-4 to the Canucks, 5-1 to the Kings, 5-0 to the Oilers, 3-1 to the Avalanche, 5-3 to the Red Wings, 2-1 to the Jets, 4-1 to the Maple Leafs. Eleven losses in a row, and there's a strong theme here.
Two times being shut out, five more games only scoring a single goal, two more games only scoring two goals. So, only twice in the last 11 games have the Sharks scored 3 goals or more. The offense is starting to struggle. Obviously, that wouldn't impact a lot of these scorelines, but when you adjust for empty net goals, like the 4-1 loss in Los Angeles, the score would be a lot closer and perhaps the Sharks losing streak doesn't reach this long.
Now, the Sharks extended injury list doesn't help this. No Logan Couture, Nico Sturm, Givani Smith, or Jacob MacDonald will affect that. With guys like Luke Kunin also missing time, there are reasons for the offensive struggles, but it still has not been good enough. If the Sharks are going to find a way to snap this losing streak, they will need to find a way to score goals. Their next game is in Toronto, and that just happens to be the opponent the Pistons snapped their streak against. Perhaps it happens again.