Jonathan Marchessault netted two goals in regulation and secured the game-winner in the shootout to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
Chandler Stephenson and Brayden McNabb also scored for the Golden Knights, who have now won three consecutive games and five of their last six, leading the league with 43 points. Jiri Patera made 35 saves in his season debut.
Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Sharks, with Mario Ferraro and Calen Addison adding goals. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 23 shots for San Jose, which had won five of its previous seven games.
This thrilling NHL game starkly contrasted with the NFL’s lowest-scoring game in 16 years, where the Raiders lost 3-0 to the Vikings just two miles away at Allegiant Stadium.
The Golden Knights survived overtime after giving up 3-1 and 4-2 leads in the third period. They won the shootout with goals from Marchessault and Jack Eichel.
Marchessault, having already scored twice in regulation, was confident in his shootout attempt after observing Kahkonen’s earlier saves.
“He played pretty deep there, so that kind of works into my strength to be able just to shoot the puck and, you know, just looking for a hole and shot it,” said Marchessault, who leads Vegas with 14 goals.
The Golden Knights were playing the second game of a back-to-back following a Saturday win in Dallas. They opened a four-game homestand after playing 10 of their previous 13 on the road.
“It’s great,” Eichel said. “Feels like we’ve been on the road for quite a while. We’ve had a few games here, but not too many. So take advantage of a little home cooking, sleeping in your own bed, and spending time with your family. Obviously, it’s the holidays. But we got to take care of a couple of games this week, so it’s nice to be home.”
McNabb extended Vegas’ lead to 3-1 early in the third with a snipe from the left circle, beating Kahkonen for his second-season goal.
Hoffman responded on the power play, reducing the lead by bouncing the puck off Vegas defenseman Kaedan Korczak’s skate.
Marchessault’s second goal of the night pushed the Golden Knights’ lead back to two, but Addison brought the Sharks closer with 3:45 left. Hoffman then tied the game with his second goal with just 39 seconds remaining.
Despite their rocky start to the season, the Sharks head home with a 5-2-1 record in their last eight games.
“We’ve created a blueprint of how we’re gonna have success here over the last month,” said Sharks coach David Quinn. “We’ve been doing it, but not as consistently as we have over the last two games. Our guys pretty much understand how we’re going to have success. I thought we defended pretty well. Not a lot of big-time chances. I thought they had a five-minute stretch in the third where they hemmed us in a little bit, but a month ago, that’s 25 minutes of hemmed-in hockey that we were trying to fight through.”
UP NEXT
- Sharks: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night.
- Golden Knights: Host Calgary on Tuesday night.
