Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks
· National Hockey League
Golden Knights rally for 4-3 win in overtime after Sharks' late-game blunders
The Sharks seemed poised for their first season-opening win in five seasons after they killed a penalty protecting a one-goal lead late in the third before a run of bad bounces and mistakes led to a crushing loss.
William Eklund nearly scored an empty-netter to ice it for the Sharks but he tapped his first attempt just wide and then had a wraparound stopped by defenseman Shea Theodore.
Vegas then went the other way and Jack Eichel innocently flipped the puck toward goal but it took an odd bounce and got past Nedeljkovic to tie it at 3 with 1:34 to play.
Nedeljkovic's problems only got worse in overtime when he came far out of his net to play a loose puck only to have it deflect right to Smith who was alone in front for the winner.
The Sharks lost 15 games last season after holding a lead in the third period and started this season off with another.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his fourth goal of the season for Vegas and Brett Howden also scored as the Golden Knights bounced back from a shootout loss in their opener to Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Akira Schmid made 20 saves.
Philipp Kurashev, Alexander Wennberg and Jeff Skinner scored for San Jose.
Nedeljkovic made 27 saves in the loss.
Sharks: Host Anaheim on Saturday night
Regular Season SeriesVGK leads series 1-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 5:31 | Jeff Skinner Goal (1) Batted, assists: Ty Dellandrea (1), Shakir Mukhamadullin (1) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 8:09 | Brett Howden Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Keegan Kolesar (1), Ben Hutton (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 6:59 | Alexander Wennberg Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: William Eklund (1), John Klingberg (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 14:22 | Pavel Dorofeyev Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: Mark Stone (3), Jack Eichel (4) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 2:59 | Philipp Kurashev Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Dmitry Orlov (1), Shakir Mukhamadullin (2) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 18:26 | Jack Eichel Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Mark Stone (4), Tomas Hertl (1) |
|
Goal | 4th Period 1:24 | Reilly Smith Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Shea Theodore (1) |
Statistics
 VGK |
 SJ |
|
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Blocked Shots | 14 |
| 22 | Hits | 22 |
| 1 | Takeaways | 5 |
| 31 | Shots | 23 |
| 1 | Power Play Goals | 1 |
| 4 | Power Play Opportunities | 4 |
| 25.0 | Power Play Percentage | 25.0 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 37 | Faceoffs Won | 28 |
| 56.9 | Faceoff Win Percent | 43.1 |
| 17 | Giveaways | 24 |
| 4 | Total Penalties | 4 |
| 8 | Penalty Minutes | 8 |
San Jose Sharks Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| John Klingberg, D | Out | Oct 21 |
| Shakir Mukhamadullin, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 19 |
| Timothy Liljegren, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 18 |
| Ryan Ellis, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 5 |
| Logan Couture, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 30 |
Vegas Golden Knights Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Noah Hanifin, D | Day-To-Day | Oct 21 |
| Brett Howden, C | Day-To-Day | Oct 21 |
| Adin Hill, G | Day-To-Day | Oct 20 |
| Mark Stone, RW | Injured Reserve | Oct 20 |
Game Information
SAP Center at San Jose
Location: San Jose, CA
Attendance: 17,435 | Capacity:
Location: San Jose, CA
Attendance: 17,435 | Capacity:
