San Jose Sharks defenseman John Klingberg (3) and Vegas Golden Knights Mitch Marner (93) fight for the puck at the T Mobile Center in Las Vegas Tue Dec 23, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Mary Walsh
Bret Howden, Mitch Marner, Colton Sissons, Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights (17-8-10). Carter Hart made 21 saves for the win. Macklin Celebrini and Collin Graf scored for the San Jose Sharks (17-17-3). Yaroslav Askarov started the game for San Jose and made 12 saves on 16 shots. Alex Nedeljkovic made seven saves on ten shots in the 7-2 loss at the T Mobile Center.
“When you’re chasing a game down five nothing, after the first against a team like that, it’s tough sledding,” said Ryan Reaves after the game. He described the Sharks’ game as “Doing everything the exact opposite of what we talked about before the game.”
Bret Howden started the scoring at 1:49. Skating into the zone, Howden passed the puck to Braeden Bowman, who passed it right back for Howden’s snap shot. An assist also went to Reilly Smith.
Next up was Mitch Marner with a power play goal at 9:07. From the hash marks, Marner sent the puck to the net and it went off of SJ21’s skate. Assists went to Noah Hanifin and Pavel Dorofeyev.
At 11:37, Colton Sissons made it 3-0. Skating into the zone two-on-one with Keegan Kolesar, trading passes, Sissons scored with a wrist shot from close in. An assist also went to Brandon Saad.
Tomas Hertl scored with a snap shot at 14:57 from the edge of the faceoff circle. An assist went to Dorofeyev.
The Sharks pulled Askarov out after that goal and sent in Nedeljkovic.
Mark Stone scored with a backhand at 18:34. Assists went to Ivan Barbashev and Kaeden Korczak.
At the end of the first period, The Sharks had just five shots on goal to Vegas’s 17. The Sharks toook two penalties and Vegas took one.
Macklin Celebrini trimmed the Vegas lead by one at 6:49 of the second period. Celebrini caught a pass in the slot and took his shot. That pass came from Tyler Toffoli.
Reilly Smith restored the five-goal lead at 18:50 with a slap shot off a pass from Korczak. An assist also went to Bowman.
In the second period, the Sharks had even fewer shots on goal, only four. Vegas had just five. The Sharks took the only penalty in the second.
Mitch Marner scored his second of the game at 5:22 of the third. Marner skated into the zone with Stone and Barbashev three-on-two. Marner, in the middle, caught a pass from Stone and scored with a wrist shot.
Collin Graf scored his tenth of the season at 8:04. Graf scored on a rebound from Toffoli’s shot. An assist also went to Alexander Wennberg.
The shots in the third were 14-4 San Jose.
The Sharks next play on Saturday in Vancouver at 7:00 PM PT against the Canucks.
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