Vegas rally in third for 5-3 win over Sharks

Joe Pavelski scored the second of his two goals on the night to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 lead near the midway point of the third period.

Then the house fell in as the visiting Vegas Golden Knights reeled off three straight goals to win 5-3.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves to get the win and was especially strong in the fist period when he made 15 saves and yielded just one goal.

“We came out sleeping a little bit tonight and they dominated the first period,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “They played a great first. Obviously, us coming out of that 1-1 was a big break for us. Fleury was a lot to do with that. After that, I thought we played real well the rest of the game and found a way to get two big points.”

James Neal picked up the game-winner late in the final frame to give the Knights a 36-15-4-4 record.

Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, and Brayden McNabb also scored for Vegas.

“I think our first period wasn’t very good at all. We were fortunate to have a tie game going into the second. We knew that. There was a lot of travel the day before (following their game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday). We were flat, and we finally found our game in the second and third,” McNabb said after the win.

The Sharks dropped to 28-18-8.

“The challenge for us was to maintain it for a little bit longer,” Pavelski said. “We needed to come out in the second and be better. The game was right there for us.”

Timo Meier also scored for the Sharks.

“We didn’t play our game for the full 60 minutes,” Meier said. “We played in their zone a lot, dominated, but we need to do that for 60 minutes. They were at the end of a road trip, and we have to come out with energy, which we did. It hurts to lose a game like that.”

[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Sharks highlights]

Martin Jones made 28 saves in taking the loss.

“I loved our first period, but we came out with nothing to show for it. You play like that, you should come out in front. We didn’t, and it hurt,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said after the loss.