FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Sharks Game 27

Wednesday night’s matchup against the Sharks was anything but normal, but the Vegas Golden Knights proved yet again why they are the top team coming out of the Honda West Division.

Just 3:45 into the first period, Shea Theodore gave the VGK the early lead as he slammed in a one-timer goal from Max Pacioretty. Less than a minute later, the Knights were awarded a powerplay after Frederick Handemark took a penalty but were unable to widen their early lead. However, the Vegas penalty kill unit did not allow a momentum swing after Nic Roy was charged with a holding penalty a little after the ten-minute mark, but they were able to kill it off. William Karlsson nearly put the Knights ahead by two with a great powerplay opportunity, but he, unfortunately, missed on a great shot opportunity. In the final three minutes of the period, Fleury showed why he should be highly considered for the Vezina Trophy as he turned away three great opportunities from the Sharks in a row to preserve the VGK lead over San Jose.

The second period began with a VGK powerplay opportunity, and while they had some great looks, they were not able to figure out Dubnyk again with the man advantage.

At almost seven minutes into the second frame, the Knights had not been able to land a shot on net and eventually let the Sharks take the lead. With 12:03 remaining, Matt Nieto from Long Beach, CA, scored his first goal of the season on a deflected puck. Just 1:36 later, Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks the lead scoring a wraparound goal after a turnover by the VGK in their defensive zone. At that point, the Sharks had scored two goals in less than two minutes apart, and it began to look like the Sharks might be able to steal a game in Vegas. After a penalty by McNabb, which was followed up by a disallowed goal by Ryan Reaves, Kevin LeBanc scored a goal with 4:53 remaining to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead heading into the third period. But anyone who has followed the VGK for a while now knows that that was way too early to count them out…

The San Jose Sharks entered the third period with a 5-0-1 record when leading after two, but the Knights proved that history does not always repeat itself.

It all started with Marc Andre Fleury making a huge save on Logan Couture a little over four minutes into the period as he seemed to get the ball rolling for another VGK third-period comeback. A little over two minutes later, San Jose took a “too many men on the ice” penalty, giving the Knights a man advantage and an opportunity to come back in the game. That opening was all it took as Cody Glass scored a powerplay goal just five seconds in after having a great net-front presence and opportunistic attitude. VGK Captain Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl threw off the gloves shortly after giving the game an additional energy boost which eventually led to the momentum swinging in the Knights favor.

With 9:57 remaining Nic Hague tied the game up after delivering a massive clap bomb, and it seemed like the VGK had control of the game all of a sudden. About 55 seconds later, Marchessault dropped the mitts with Sharks captain Logan Couture which seemed to complete the energy transfer in T-Mobile Arena. With 7:33 remaining Ryan Reaves was finally able to find the back of the net with his first goal of the year to give the Knights the lead for the first time on St. Patrick’s Day.

While the big man has been snake-bitten so far this year, I have a sneaking suspicion that he is the type of player that will end up scoring a huge goal come the postseason. I can’t exactly explain why, but it’s a gut feeling I have, and those are rarely wrong in my experience. With 5:14 remaining, Alec Martinez scored the eventual game-winner off of a powerplay goal and was the third VGK defenseman to score a goal tonight, proving the value that his veteran presence provides. Evander Kane scored a little over a minute later to give the Sharks hope, but it was all for naught as the VGK came away with the win.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Friday evening taking on the Los Angeles Kings at Staples center in Southern California. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

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-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

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