Blog: Golden Knights blast Sharks in San Jose, improve to 2-0

By Justin Emerson

Published Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 | 3 p.m.

Updated Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 | 10:38 p.m.

For the second game in a row, the Golden Knights controlled play against the San Jose Sharks from the opening whistle, scoring early and building their lead throughout the night.

And for the second game in a row, the Golden Knights came out victorious, this time 5-1 over San Jose at SAP Center on Friday.

The Golden Knights scored two short-handed goals, one each by Brayden McNabb and Tomas Nosek. The Nosek goal was his second of the night, and William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault supplied the others.

Nosek also had an assist, giving him three points for the first time in his career. Mark Stone had a pair of assists, giving him four points through the first two games of the year.

Vegas scored two goals in each of the first two periods and added its fifth at the 9:10 mark of the third period.

The game was relatively tame until the end, right when Barclay Goodrow scored San Jose's first goal at 14:05. There was some pushing and shoving afterwards that devolved into the closest thing today's NHL will have to a line brawl leading to six misconduct penalties.

Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 34 saves on 35 shots for his second victory in as many games.

Vegas grabs 4-0 lead

It took until later in the frame this time, but the Golden Knights added two more goals in the second period to extend their lead to 4-0 over the San Jose Sharks.

Vegas took the first two penalties of the game in the second, but held a listless Sharks power play to one combined shot. Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, they weren't too much better on their one chance with the extra man.

After that though, things got interesting. Brandon Pirri went to the box for slashing, and it gave the Golden Knights a scoring opportunity. After a short-handed goal in the season opener, Vegas did the same on Friday. It was William Karlsson and Reilly Smith working it again, and a feed to Brayden McNabb allowed the defenseman to roof it over Martin Jones for his first-career short-handed goal.

Then once the Pirri penalty expired, Vegas struck again. Pirri drilled the post with his partial breakaway, but it bounced off Tomas Nosek and into the net for a 4-0 lead.

Golden Knights lead by two after one

The last time the Golden Knights played a meaningful game in this building, the built up a big lead, only to see it disappear late. So far, the first part has been repeated, the second remains to be seen.

The Golden Knights scored twice in the opening frame to grab a 2-0 lead over the San Jose Sharks heading into the first intermission at SAP Center.

As they did in the opener, the Golden Knights jumped out to an early lead. Just pass the five-minute mark, Valentin Zykov chipped the puck into the zone for Tomas Nosek, who spun around and fed a streaking William Carrier, who sniped it for the first goal of the game.

The goal came on the first stretch of the game where neither Brent Burns nor Erik Karlsson was on the ice for the Sharks. Prior to that the Sharks had been controlling play, but once their star defensemen left the ice, Vegas capitalized.

The Golden Knights top-line forwards showed what makes them so good in the defensive end. First it was Reilly Smith back-checking all the way back to nearly the goal line to get the stick in the lane of a pass during a rush, then it was William Karlsson doing the same during some sustained San Jose pressure. Neither led to a shot on goal.

As for the Burns-Karlsson dynamic, the Golden Knights scored their second goal with both of them on ice. Vegas grabbed a turnover and Jonathan Marchessault in the high slot deflected a Shea Theodore wrister from the point to make it 2-0 at 14:09.

Pregame

The first game of the season, it was Cody Glass. The final game of last year’s regular season, it was Jimmy Schuldt. Tonight, it’s Nicolas Hague.

For the third regular season game in a row, the Golden Knights will feature a rookie making his NHL debut. It’s Hague’s turn at 7:30 p.m. in San Jose as Vegas looks for a second straight win against the Sharks to open the season.

“Definitely a little bit of nerves but it’s pretty exciting,” Hague said. “It’s definitely a moment you dream about since you’re a little kid so I’m itching to get going. It’s going to be a fun night hopefully.”

Hague is filling in for Nate Schmidt, who suffered an apparent knee injury in Wednesday’s season opener. Hague won’t be asked to replace Schmidt shift-for-shift, but in a thin blue line, he’ll be playing an important role.

He will skate alongside Deryk Engelland, a familiar move for the veteran. Engelland played on the right side of Shea Theodore for the better part of a season and a half, easing a talented, left-handed offensive defenseman into the league. The same descriptors apply to Hague. The 20-year-old averaged more than a point per game in his final year of juniors and had 13 goals and 32 points in 75 games at AHL Chicago last season.

“You want to give them the best chance to succeed and we think they’re a good pair together,” coach Gerard Gallant said.

As the Golden Knights lost a defenseman in Schmidt, the Sharks gained one back in Erik Karlsson. The two-time Norris winner was a late scratch Wednesday to attend the birth of his son, but is expected to return to the ice tonight.

It's a sigh of relief for the Sharks, who needed him Wednesday. The Golden Knights shut down San Jose in their first meeting and feasted on the Sharks defense in particular. No San Jose defenseman was positive in either Corsi percentage or expected goals percentage, and without Karlsson at his side, Brenden Dillon’s possession numbers were the worst among them.

“It’s not going to change how we do things but it’s going to change a lot what they do,” Gallant said of Karlsson's return. “He’s a great player and he’s one of the star players in the league so he’s going to help them a lot.”

In the debuts of both Schuldt and Glass, the rookie recorded a point, with Schuldt picking up an assist and Glass scoring a goal. Glass and Hague are good friends dating back to 2017 when both were part of the inaugural draft class.

Hague laughed when asked if he felt any pressure to live up to Glass’ flashy debut.

“He’ll score the goals, I’ll try to keep them out of the net,” Hague said.

TV: AT&T Sports Net (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-115, Sharks plus-105; over/under: 6.5 (plus-101, minus-111)

Golden Knights (1-0-0, 2 points) (0-0-0 road), t-first place, Pacific Division

Coach: Gerard Gallant (third season)

Points leader: William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Mark Stone (2)

Goals leader: Reilly Smith (2)

Assists leader: William Karlsson (2)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (1.00 GAA, .955 save percentage)

Sharks (0-1-0, 0 points) (0-0-0 home), t-fourth place, Pacific Division

Coach: Peter DeBoer (fourth season)

Points leader: Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Marcus Sorensen (1)

Goals leaders: Marcus Sorensen (1)

Assists leader: Brent Burns, Logan Couture (1)

Expected goalie: Martin Jones (4.00 GAA, .886 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith,

Max Pacioretty—Cody Glass—Mark Stone

Brandon Pirri—Paul Stastny—Valentin Zykov

William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Shea Theodore

Jon Merrill—Nick Holden

Nicolas Hague—Deryk Engelland,

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban

Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.