Phil Kessel made his milestone night unforgettable as his Vegas teammates ensured a victory to celebrate his achievements.
Kessel set the NHL Ironman record by playing his 990th consecutive game and scored his 400th career goal, leading the Golden Knights to a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
“I was happy to get it,” Kessel said. “It was a special night. I’m glad to get the win.”
Kessel broke Keith Yandle’s record, set last season, when he started his streak on November 3, 2009, with Toronto. Kessel didn’t stop there, scoring the game’s first goal by taking a pass from Brett Howden and beating James Reimer to become the 12th American-born player to score 400 goals.
“It was just pure happiness from everyone,” teammate William Karlsson said. “Everyone was just cheering and howling. It was really good to see it go in.”
Kessel’s goal came after a near-miss the previous night, where an offsides challenge nullified his goal against Toronto. There was no doubt this time around.
The Golden Knights secured the win with third-period goals from Shea Theodore, William Karlsson, and Mark Stone.
Adin Hill made 29 saves in his first game against San Jose since being traded to Vegas this summer.
“I think all the boys wanted to rally behind him,” Hill said. “We didn’t have the second period that we wanted to have, and then we kind of had a little talk in the locker room and just kind of a gut check. I thought we responded in the third period and the results showed.”
The Sharks got goals from Nico Sturm and Matt Nieto in the second period but still lost their eighth straight home game to the Golden Knights. San Jose last won at the Shark Tank against Vegas in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs in 2019, when they rallied from three goals down before winning in overtime.
Reimer made 27 saves for San Jose.
“Today, like so many games this season already, I feel like we’re playing a good opponent, and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot in an absolutely winnable game,” Sturm said. “Today was winnable.”
The Golden Knights tied it in the opening minute of the third period when Theodore’s wrist shot from the point went through traffic and beat Reimer.
William Karlsson then deked Erik Karlsson to go in alone on Reimer for the go-ahead goal with 6:47 to play.
Stone added the insurance goal 1:02 later.
IRONMAN TENURE
Yandle had a short run as the NHL’s Ironman, holding a share of the mark for 272 days since tying Doug Jarvis’ record of 964 consecutive games on Jan. 24.
Jarvis had sole possession of the record for 12,813 days since setting the mark on Dec. 26, 1984.
The Sharks played a video from Yandle congratulating Kessel during a break in the first period, drawing a warm ovation from the crowd of 12,003.
“It was nice,” he said. “I appreciate it. They don’t have to do that. But I appreciate it out of them.”
INJURY UPDATES
Sharks F Nick Bonino (upper body) missed his second straight game and is day-to-day. … There is no timeline for the return of San Jose D Markus Nutivaara, who has been out since training camp with a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: Host Anaheim on Friday night.
- Sharks: Host Toronto on Thursday night.
