In San Jose, the Sharks hung in with the Vegas Golden Knights for the first period, coming out of the first 20 minutes with a 1-1 tie.
Michael Amadio (not pictured) opens the first period scoring as his shot eludes Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen – Photo by Jack Lima
Vegas tacked on a double in the middle frame en route to a 4-1 win in their second straight win to open the season.
Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy in the second period to help send Vegas to the win.
Tonight, I thought [the difference] was our guys that we don’t typically rely on that did a lot,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That shows you’re a good team when you don’t need your top guys to have their A-games all the time. … It’s not the usual suspects, and you need that if you’re going to be a good team.”
Logan Thompson made 22 saves in the Vegas win.
Filip Zadina was the lone striker for the Sharks, his first period goal tied the game, 1-1, at 17:48 of the frame.
“We were trying to put the pucks on net to create some chances, some rebounds,” Zadina said. “It was kind of like a lucky bounce. It hit Tommy (Hertl), and I was the net-front guy and just was in the right spot at the right time.”
Vegas had taken the 1-0 lead on a marker from Michael Amadio at 15:25.
“Obviously, they had a push,” Roy said. “They had some energy for their first game, but we found a way and found the back of the net. At the end of the second, we played our best hockey.”
Vegas’ Brayden Pachal scored at 2:11 of the third, his first career NHL goal, to make the score 4-1.
“It’s a dream come true,” Pachal said. “You’ve grown up playing hockey, it’s one of the things that you dream of, scoring your first NHL goal. I’m super fortunate and grateful to have done that tonight.”
Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves in the Sharks loss.
“That was tough, kind of like what happened to us last year,” San Jose’s Tomas Hertl said. “We played hard for two periods and couldn’t get that extra goal. And after the third [Vegas goal], we tried but everybody started doing their own thing.
“We just have to play for 60 minutes the same way every night. It doesn’t matter if we are up or down.”
Sharks forward Thomas Bordeleau (17) attempts to swipe the puck away from Chandler Stephenson (20) as Alexander Barabanov (94) trails the play- Photo by Jack Lima
Sharks forward Fabian Zetterlund (20) attempts to tip a shot past Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson as Alex Pietrangelo (7) defends- Photo by Jack Lima
Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) attempts to contain a loose puck in front of Michael Amadio (22) and Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen- Photo by Jack Lima
Referee Chris Lee (28) drops the puck on the games opening faceoff between Jack Eichel (Left) and Mikael Granlund (64)- Photo by Jack Lima
Mikael Granlund (64) checks Jack Eichel during first period action- Photo by Jack Lima
Mark Stone (61) battles Sharks defenseman Matt Benning (5) for position in front of the net- Photo by Jack Lima
Luke Kunin takes a shot on goal- Photo by Jack Lima
Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson makes a glove save- Photo by Jack Lima
Anthony Duclair made his Sharks debut- Photo by Jack Lima
Anthony Duclair (10) Pavel Dorofeyev (16) and Thomas Bordeleau (17) chase after the puck – Photo by Jack Lima
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