Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a first period goal as the San Jose Sharks Mikael Granlund (64) foreground skates off. The Sharks once again surrender three goals in the first period this time at T Mobile Center in Las Vegas at Sat Oct 26, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Mary Walsh
The San Jose Sharks lost 7-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights, bringing their season-opening losing streak to nine. Tanner Pearson, Jack Eichel, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofayev and Mark Stone scored for Vegas. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for the win. Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm and Luke Kunin scored for San Jose. Vitek Vanacek made 35 saves in the loss.
After the game, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro talked about the team’s slow starts:
“We gotta find a way to weather the storm in energetic buildings. LA, it’s their home opener, same thing kinda happened. We’re chasing the game far too much right now. I think there’s a lot more areas that are not good enough but that’s definitely something that’s not helping our case.”
Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky described the team’s state of mind: “I don’t think anyone’s happy by any means. There’s a lot of emotion in that locker room. Frustration, anger. It’s tough. It’s tough right now.”
Tanner Pearson scored the first goal of the night with the first shot of the game at 1:54. William Karlsson set up the slap shot with a quick backhand pass off the boards. A secondary assist went to Alexander Holtz.
Jack Eichel made it 2-0 less than two minutes later. Mark Stone moved up to the right point before passing the puck to Eichel in the left faceoff circle. Alex Pietrangelo also got an assist.
Brett Howden made it 3-0 late in the period. Tomas Hertl carried the puck in and then made a pass to Howden who was skating to the net. Howden scored with a wrist shot on Vanacek’s stick side. Pavel Dorofeyev got the secondary assist.
The Sharks were outshot 22-4 in the first period.
Mikael Granlund got one back for the Sharks midway through the second period. Granlund tried a wrap-around and when that did not work he got the puck right back and pushed it over the line. William Eklund and Mario Ferraro got the assists.
William Karlsson scored short-handed less than a minute later. Vanacek took a chance and came well out of the net to poke the puck away but Karlsson got it back and evaded the discombobulated Sharks defense. Pietrangelo got an assist.
Pavel Dorofeyev made it 5-1 with a power play goal in the last minute of the second period. Assists went to Shea Theodore and Mark Stone.
Nico Sturm scored the Sharks’ second goal a few seconds later with a wrist shot into the top corner from the faceoff circle.
The Sharks came closer in shots during the second period, mustering 11 to Vegas’ 15.
Mark Stone made it 6-2 at 11:10 of the third period. Eichel carried the puck towards the net and then found Stone with a drop pass. Assists went to Eichel and Barbashev.
Luke Kunin scored the Sharks’ third goal from a scrum in front of the net at 13:29. An assist went to Fabian Zetterlund.
Brett Howden scored his second of the night at 17:07. Assists went to Dorofeyev and Hertl.
The Sharks only allowed five shots in the third period and got credit for 11.
The Sharks next play on Monday at 6:00 PM PT in Salt Lake City against the Utah Hockey Club.
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