On The Strip, the Golden Knights discovered the new San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
Vegas held a 4-2 lead late in the third period when the Sharks rallied for two goals to send the game to extra time, tied 4-4.
The extra session solved nothing, and Vegas needed a deciding marker form Johnathan Marchessault on penalties for a 5-4 win.
Jiri Patera made 35 saves in the Vegas win.
“He did a really good job for us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He played a little bit last year (two games). He got a taste of it. … He was going to be ready to play in terms of his reps. His first game of the year, you never know. I was hoping we’d play better in front of him for everyone’s sake.”
The Knights improved to 19-5-5.
“You got to take care of business, obviously. It’s not an easy game,” Vegas’ Jack Eichel said. “We had an emotional win last night against Dallas, traveled home, and they’re sitting here waiting for us. They’ve been playing good hockey. Very competitive, and at the end of a road trip. They gave us all we could handle, and it was just good that we found a way to get two points.”
San Jose took a 1–0 lead with 29 seconds of game fresh ice used on a marker from Mario Ferraro.
The Sharks held that lead into the middle frame when Marchessault tied it, 1-1, at 5:34 .
Vegas took a 2-1 lead off a power play marker from Chandler Stephenson at 15:44 of the second.
Vegas seemingly took control of the game at 1:43 of the third period when Brayden McNabb extended the advantage to 3-1.
“It was a great play by Jack, and I just got it through and it went in,” McNabb said. “I try and stay consistent and chip in when I can. I make the plays I see when they’re there. If guys put them in, great. Shots on net. I don’t say anything is changing. Sometime that’s how hockey goes. They come in waves.”
The Sharks dropped to 8-17-3.
“We’ve created a blueprint of how we’re going to have success here over the last month. We’ve been doing it, but not as consistently as we have over the last two games, and our guys pretty much understand how we’re going to have success,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we defended pretty well. Not a lot of big time chances. I thought they had a five-minute stretch in the third where they kind of hemmed us in a little bit, but a month ago, that’s 25 minutes of hemmed in hockey that we were trying to fight through.”
Mike Hoffman, who scored a double in the third period for the Sharks, trimmed the deficit to 3-2 when he scored at 3:56.
Marchessault completed a double midway through the third to push the lead back to two at 4-2.
San Jose then rallied on two straight goals.
Calen Addison scored at 16:15 to get the Sharks within one at 4-3.
Hoffman scored his double with 39 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session.
“We’re not giving up. We’re going to, you know, grind it out and try and fight right until the end,” Hoffman said. “Obviously, 6-on-5 is nice when you can get those goals. When you’re hot and things are going well, it seems everything finds the back of the net in that situation.”
Use CodePHN15 Sharks continue to rev up offense to rescue points
Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves in the loss.
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