Coming off their first two wins of the season, the San Jose Sharks took a hit on Friday night, returning to their old ways in a 5-0 loss to the Golden Knights.
Adin Hill made 20 saves for the win.
“Any game you win 5-0 and give up 20 shots, it’s a good game by your team,” Hill said. “It’s a big win. All two points count the same.”
Alec Martinez hit for a double in the win.
“Good teams recognize when they’re not doing things the way that they should be,” Martinez said. “That was obviously reflected in some of the outcomes of the games. So proud of the guys and how they rebounded and bounced back, and got back into the win column.”
Vegas improved to 12-2-1.
Alex Pietrangelo staked the Knights to a 1-0 lad with 60 seconds gone in the game.
“Right from the get-go, we looked flat for sure,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Getting down again 2-0 certainly didn’t help our cause. We were just half a step behind all night long.
“We defended way too much and weren’t able to end plays. We’re chasing the game really from the drop of the puck.”
Martinez made it 2-0 at 11:19 of the first.
San Jose dropped to 2-11-1.
“They were better; we were not good enough,” San Jose forward Mikael Granlund said. “They were winning way more puck battles, obviously put us on defense quite a bit, so we got to be better.”
After a scoreless middle frame, William Karlsson pushed the lead to 3-0 at 2:24 of the third.
Martinez collected his double at 4:40 to balloon the advantage to 4-0.
“It was a good play,” Martinez said. “‘Petro’ did a really good job of [reeling] that guy in and giving me more time and space. I was more surprised at how much time I had. So, I looked backside, and there wasn’t really anyone there, so I figured I’d take the shot, which went in.”
Brett Howden‘s goal at 9:34 of the third finished the scoring for the 5-0 final.
“A lot of offense coming from guys who haven’t had as much going their way this year,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s usually a good sign.”
Kaapo Kahkonen made 34 saves in the loss.
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