A slow start, a critical gaffe and another Sharks loss. When will misery end?

The San Jose Sharks are just not in the same weight class as the Vegas Golden Knights, and they haven’t been for years.

The question remains – who do the Sharks match up well against right now?

The Sharks got off to another devastatingly slow start Saturday, allowing 22 shots and three goals in the first period in what became a 7-3 loss to the Golden Knights, marking their ninth straight defeat to start the season.

With the loss, the Sharks became the first team in NHL history to go winless in their first nine games in back-to-back seasons.

“It’s embarrassing,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Truly embarrassing.”

The Sharks (0-7-2) allowed goals to Tanner Pearson and Jack Eichel in the opening 3:47 before Brett Howden scored off an assist from Tomas Hertl for a 3-0 Golden Knights 16:46 into the first period.

The Sharks got goals from Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm, and Luke Kunin but never seriously threatened the Golden Knights. San Jose is now 0-16-3 in October games since a 4-3 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 27, 2022.

“There’s a lot of emotion in that locker room,” Warsofsky said. “Frustration, anger, it’s tough right now.”

It was a night to forget for Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek, who was under siege for the first two periods but also experienced a couple of moments he’d like to have back.

Pearson’s goal on the first shot of the game at the 1:57 mark of the first period went right between Vanecek’s pads, a deflating moment for a Sharks team hoping to get off to a decent start.

Then, in the second period with the Sharks on the power play, soon after Granlund scored his fourth of the season at the 10:13 mark, Vanecek was indecisive about coming out to play the puck that had been cleared into the San Jose end.

William Karlsson won the race to the puck, chipped it ahead to himself, skated back toward the center of the ice, and fired a shot that beat Vanecek and Alexander Wennberg for a 4-1 Golden Knights lead at the 11:10 mark.

Vanecek made 35 saves on 42 shots.

Granlund’s goal snapped a 10-period goalless drought at even strength. But a chance to make it a one-goal game on a power play that’s been good of late turned right back into a three-goal deficit.

“Yeah, that was our chance,” Warsofsky said. “It’s 3-1 at that point, and then we give up a shorthanded goal. Probably could have had some momentum. That could have been our chance to get back into it. We’ve seen that a little bit here recently, when we get down, we do kind of claw our way back a little bit, we just can’t take that next step.”

It was simply the kind of gaffe the Sharks could ill afford to make.

“That’s out of our mindset. We’re not thinking, here we go again,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said of the early adversity. “We’re thinking, we’ve got to start figuring this thing out.

“The past is the past. We’ve moved on from that. This is a new year. We’ve got issues right now that we have to fix, and that’s what we’re looking to do.”

Now the Sharks close the road trip against the Utah Hockey Club, then return home to face the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. They’ll have to win one of those games to avoid going winless in their first 11 games for a second straight season.

The Sharks started 0-10-1 last year, matching the second-longest winless streak to start a year in NHL history. Six other teams have gone 11 games without a win to start a season, but the 1943-44 New York Rangers hold the record, going their first 15 games without a win.

The Sharks face a Utah team that started the year on a hot streak but has since lost five of its last six to fall to 4-4-1.

“Tomorrow is a new day,” Ferraro said. “We’re going to get back at it, and we’re going to find ways to improve, and we’re going to get our first win in Utah.”