Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Matthew Harrington

The Vegas Golden Knights continued their tear through the Pacific Division Thursday night, rallying from a 3-2 deficit in the third period to best the San Jose Sharks 5-3 at the SAP Center.

Vegas rode its trademarks that have them in first place in the Pacific Division in their inaugural season, receiving outstanding goaltending from a now healthy Marc-Andre Fleury and goals from five different players.

Joe Pavelski scored two goals for the Sharks and Timo Meier continued his breakout second half with his 13th goal of the season.

San Jose opened the game with a boost after Joe Pavelski netted his 11th goal of the season 4:40 into a near-perfect first period. The Sharks held Vegas shotless for the majority of the frame, but a blocked shot bounced back to Erik Haula who beat Martin Jones for his 21st goal of the season on Vegas’ first shot at the 14-minute mark of the first.

Karlsson scored just 37 seconds into the second period, but unfortunately for Sharks fans it was William, not Melker. Then came Meier’s 13th goal with Brent Burns pick up his second assist of the game, tying the score 2-2 at the 11:47 mark into the middle frame on the power play.

The man-advantage again struck, with Joe Pavelski tipping home his 12th goal of the campaign 7:45 into the third. Consecutive goals by Brayden McNabb, James Neal and a power play strike from Jonathan Marchessault doomed San Jose in the fateful final frame. In total, the Sharks threw 38 shots on net, while Martin Jones turned aside 28 Golden Knights shots.

Vegas now improves to 2-0 against the Sharks who are 2-4-1 during the absence of top line center Joe Thornton with a knee injury.

San Jose next squares off against wunderkind Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, once reeling but now hitting full stride thanks to their young superstar. The Sharks will have seek revenge for a first round playoff exit last season at the hands of the Western Canadian team.