Mark Stone had a goal and an assist and the Vegas Golden Knights scored twice each in the first and third periods to defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 at SAP Center. The Golden Knights maintain their lead in the Presidents’ Trophy race with 59 points, while the Sharks remain second-to-last in the NHL at 32 points.
Game Recap
In a fast-paced, back-and-forth first period, both teams got solid looks early with Vegas’ Ilya Samsonov and San Jose’s Alexandar Georgiev both making good saves. The Golden Knights broke through about halfway through the first period when Stone outmuscled Cody Ceci for a long pass, leading to a breakaway and an open shot which Stone snuck through Georgiev to give Vegas the first goal of the game. They followed up less than two minutes later thanks to a turnover by Shakir Mukahamdullin, who skated right into Brett Howden. After some good Golden Knights passing, Zach Whitecloud maneuvered to the right wing of the offensive zone and put home a shot. Once again, Georgiev was in decent position for a save, but couldn’t make the play.
Throughout the rest of the period, both teams had good scoring opportunities, most notably a breakaway for Barclay Goodrow. But Samsonov saved that shot, and he and Georgiev shut down everything else that came their way. In total, Vegas and San Jose posted 13 and 12 shots in the period respectively.
The second period was slightly slower-paced, but far more one-sided, with the flow of the action heavily favoring the Golden Knights. They controlled the action, keeping the puck in their offensive zone for most of the period and outshooting the Sharks 18-4. However, a crucial tripping penalty on former Shark Tomas Hertl gave San Jose a power play, and they used some good puck movement for a much-needed power-play goal by William Eklund.
The Sharks got one more scoring chance on a shot by Will Smith, but Vegas dominated the remaining 10 minutes of the period. Georgiev made every save, some of them very difficult, to keep San Jose in the game.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, Fabian Zetterlund committed a slashing penalty with three seconds left in the period, giving Vegas a power play. They didn’t score in those three seconds, but did capitalize on the man advantage in the third period. Jack Eichel’s puck handling drew in the San Jose penalty killers, and he made an excellent saucer pass to set up Victor Olofsson for the goal.
Needing a response to make the game close again, the Sharks got one thanks to another power play. Shortly after hitting the post with a shot, Timothy Liljegren walked the blue line and down to get into position for another attempt, once again hitting metal but also finding the net this time.
Both teams had a few more opportunities until the Sharks pulled Georgiev for an extra skater with 2:39 remaining. Stone had the first opportunity for an empty-netter, but Macklin Celebrini made a good defensive play to alter his shot and prevent the goal. However, Stone got his revenge just seconds later when he stole the puck from Celebrini and fed Hertl, who sealed the game against his former team.
The Golden Knights next play on Thursday (Jan. 9) at home against the New York Islanders, while the Sharks will go on the road on Friday (Jan. 10) to face the Utah Hockey Club.
