The Vegas Golden Knights fight off a valiant effort from the San Jose Sharks to win 2-1.
Much like most Knights and Sharks games the first period began with high intensity, physicality and some offensive firepower. Vegas racked up 14 hits within the first frame and San Jose laid 10 of their own. The 3,500 in attendance thrived off of each collision into the boards as the two rivals set the tone of this tilt in the first period. The majority of the chances came for San Jose, yet Marc Andre-Fleury held them scoreless on 11 shots. San Jose attacked and fired pucks to the net from the side of the crease, attempting to generate chances to score but Fleury was able to withstand the attack. Sharks forward Evander Kane would trip Jonathan Marchessualt, leading to the first power play chance of the game for Vegas. Within five seconds of the advantage, Max Pacioretty would net his 14th goal of the season giving Vegas the one goal lead that would hold all the way to the intermission.
Vegas looked much better in the middle frame than in the first. Breaking out onto the rush much smoother and containing the puck for the majority of the period. Vegas controlled the puck in the offensive zone, made tape-to-tape passes and had a plethora of chances. The Knights out worked the Sharks out shooting them 16-4 in the second period. Yet all were all turned aside even though Vegas had each line rolling and producing multiple opportunities. San Jose was visibly worn down, icing the puck in order to find their bearings. Sharks netminder Devin Dubynk, was able to make an exhaustive amount of saves to hold the score as is heading into the third.
Within the first two minutes of the third period, Mark Stone netted his 10th goal of the year to give the Knights a 2-0 lead. San Jose struggled to find a rhythm against Vegas in the third period, as the Knights were quick to get on the rush and put the Sharks on the back foot. Evander Kane found himself all alone with Fleury at the mid way point of the period, Fleury came out of the blue crease and made a poke-check save. This had killed one of the two best chances for San Jose. Timo Meier was able to find the back of the net with 5:32 remaining. Although Vegas was able to fight off the Sharks last gasp, as Tomas Hertl rang a golden scoring chance of the post followed by San Jose finding their shots blocked on a six on four advantage in the final 10 seconds.
Vegas moves to 19-6-1 and will host San Jose who now moves to 11-12-3 once again Wednesday night.
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