San Jose Sharks Will Smith (2) had an assist and a point agianst the Vegas Golden Knights the T Mobile Center in Las Vegas on Sat Sep 26, 2026 (San Jose Sharks X photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in their final pre-season game. Dmitry Orlov, Macklin Celebrini, Mason Marchment and Michael Misa scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 27 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl and Nic Dowd scored for the Golden Knoghts. Carter Hart made 12 saves in the loss.

The first period looked like it would end scoreless until the Sharks went on the power play at 18:20. Even then, with the shots 13-1 for Vegas, it didn’t look good for the Sharks. Macklin Celebrini carried the puck in, then passed it back up to Dmitry Orlov on the blue line. Orlov moved below the blue line and shot the puck in, bar down. Alexander Wennberg got the secondary assist.

The period ended with the shots 13-2. The Sharks killed two penalties (to Tyler Toffoli and Zack Ostapchuk) and converted on their one power play.

Celebrini made it 2-0 at 6:45 of the second period. Will Smith and Celebrini interrupted a Vegas rush in the Sharks zone and turned play the other way. Celebrini took his shot from above the left faceoff circle. Smith and Mason Marchment got the assists.

Vegas got one back at 17:24, on the power play. Tomas Hertl carried it in, the passed it back up to Shea Theodore. When Askarov stopped Theodore’s shot, Hertl backhanded the rebound in. An assist also went to Carter Hart.

The shots for the second were 12-3 Vegas. The Knights took one penalty and killed it. The Sharks took two penalties (to Dmitry Orlov and Mason Marchment) and killed one.

Nic Dowd tied the game for Vegas at 3:18 of the third period. Skaters entered the zone with speed and a lot of puck movement. Ivan Barbashev passed to his right, Brett Howden passed it to his left and Dowd took the shot.

Mason Marchment broke that tie at 9:47. Darnell Nurse sent a pass to Will Smith but the Golden Knights blocked it. They did not get control of the the puck and it bounced to Marchment on his way into the zone. He had time and he took his shot. Nurse got the only assist.

Michael Misa scored an insurance goal at 14:54. Misa got control of the puck at the blue line, carried the puck in and shot from the right faceoff circle. Assists went to Igor Chernyshov and Tyler Toffoli.

The Sharks did turn the shot clock around in the third, 11-4.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the visiting Florida Panthers.