Golden Knights tie series with Sharks with gutsy win in Game 2

By Justin Emerson

Friday, April 12, 2019 | 11:45 p.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Just like in Game 1, Vegas was out-shot, out-chanced and oftentimes outplayed against the Sharks. The difference Friday was that they were not outscored.

The Golden Knights took eight penalties Friday but only allowed one goal and scored two while short-handed, turning the tide of the series and sending it back to Vegas tied after a 5-3 victory at SAP Center.

“I felt a lot better than I did after the first game,” forward William Karlsson said. “To come here and take one game, it’s pretty good. So hopefully we can keep the momentum going into Game 3.”

First, the bad. The Golden Knights faced eight power plays, the most in one game in team history. They averaged 2.8 power plays against in the regular season, the ninth-fewest in the league. Friday night, Vegas was short-handed five times.

The good news is it that didn’t hurt them. Vegas allowed one goal in 13:35 of short-handed time, including a full minute of 5-on-3. The Golden Knights allowed 12 power-play shots in that span.

Oh, and they scored two short-handed goals for the first time in team history.

“That was the answer we didn’t have in Game 1,” said Karlsson, who had the second short-handed goal. “We've got to stay away from the box. It’s not going to do us any favors going forward, but I think the (penalty kill) was there today.”

The Golden Knights held the special-teams advantage, which made up for the 5-on-5 hole they played in. The Sharks had a 37-30 edge in 5-on-5 shot attempts, and that jumps to 46-33 at all even strengths. Each team had two even-strength goals.

It helps when one team’s starting goalie is legions better than the other. Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves and even the goals he gave up, few, if any, goalies would have a chance at. He was superb, which is just what Vegas needed.

“They scored those three late and he didn’t have much chance on any of those,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “He made some great saves and he was the key to our win tonight for sure.”

The other goalie was not as good. The Golden Knights tagged San Jose starter Martin Jones for three goals on seven shots in the game’s first 6:11, and he departed for backup Aaron Dell at the first TV timeout 28 seconds later.

Cody Eakin started it with a goal 58 seconds into the game, the eighth time in 16 all-time meetings the Golden Knights have scored on the Sharks in the first five minutes of a game. Colin Miller scored the first short-handed goal of his career at 4:37, then Max Pacioretty made it 3-0 at 6:11.

Dell played better, and his two goals allowed would have been enough to win if Jones didn’t give the Golden Knights such a head start.

The Sharks, though, made it a game. They countered with three goals within 2:09 at the end of the first, becoming the first team in playoff history to tie the game in the first period after trailing by three goals.

The first came to a merciful end before the Sharks could grab a lead, and Vegas won the rest of the game 2-0.

“Thank God they didn’t get four,” Gallant said. “Regroup, get ready to go and it’s a two-period hockey game. That’s exactly what we did and I thought we played good.”

A team that wins the first two games at home has gone on to win 241 of the last 271 playoff series, so Friday’s win boosted the Golden Knights’ chances of advancing drastically. There will be at least three more games in the series, with two of them coming Sunday and Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights feel like they haven’t played their best hockey yet, which gives them a boost of confidence heading home.

“At the end of the day it’s all about winning the game at this time of year,” forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “Too many kills, too many small mistakes but we go home with a tie, now we've got to take Game No. 3 and that’s all that matters.”