The Vegas Golden Knights closed the preseason Saturday with a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena, but the final score did not tell the full story.
Vegas outshot San Jose 29-16 and held the Sharks to just five shots through the first 40 minutes. The Golden Knights erased a 2-0 deficit early in the third period before San Jose scored twice over the final 10:13 to pull away.
Head coach Ryan Craig focused more on the process than the result as Vegas turned its attention toward Tuesday’s regular-season opener against Chicago.
“Really happy with our first 40,” Craig said. “The things we wanted to clean up or see improvement on, especially through 40 minutes today, I thought we did.”
Chances come, goals don’t
Vegas controlled much of the opening period and put 13 shots on Yaroslav Askarov while allowing only two. However, San Jose struck first.
Mitch Marner went to the penalty box for hooking Macklin Celebrini late in the period. Dmitry Orlov converted on the power play with 40 seconds remaining, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Celebrini doubled the advantage at 6:45 of the second period, finishing a setup from Will Smith and Mason Marchment.
The Golden Knights finally broke through on their own power play at 17:24. Tomas Hertl scored his second goal of the preseason, with Shea Theodore and Carter Hart assisting.
Hertl said Vegas created enough opportunities but needed to finish more of them.
“Obviously, we lost, but I think we still had some good looks,” Hertl said. “A lot of chances, we could bury a couple more.”
Vegas pulls even
Nic Dowd tied the game 3:18 into the third period after a passing sequence involving Ivan Barbashev and Brett Howden.
“I end up scoring the goal, but it doesn’t happen if there aren’t three plays before that,” Dowd said.
The tie did not last.
Marchment put San Jose back ahead at 9:47, scoring from Darnell Nurse. Michael Misa added another at 14:54 to make it 4-2.
Askarov handled the rest, finishing with 27 saves on 29 shots.
Despite the loss, Dowd said the Golden Knights showed signs of getting back to their preferred style.
“Tonight, we got back to, at least from what I saw the last 20 games of playoffs, the core of how the Vegas Golden Knights play,” Dowd said.
Craig also liked what he saw from Vegas’ defending, checking and breakouts through the first two periods.
“Our defending, our checking habits, our breakouts, all those things we touched on yesterday were good and led to the offensive chances we created,” Craig said.
Vegas finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while San Jose went 1-for-3.
For Hertl, the preseason served its purpose. Now the meaningful games begin.
“Some details we have to obviously be better, but it’s nice to get two games behind us,” Hertl said. “Now let’s roll for real.”
Up next
The Golden Knights open the regular season Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Pacific on ESPN.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
