In addition to being a young team, the San Jose Sharks are still trying to figure out who will claim the final roster spots and so not all of the players on the ice last night were NHL regulars, or even players with more than a handful of NHL games under their belts. On the other bench, the Vegas Golden Knights trotted out a mostly NHL-ready roster, hoping this final tuneup before the season starts would help the team iron out any kinks it might have in the lineup. Turns out, there might be more work to do for the Golden Knights. The Sharks and its combination of NHL and AHL players were outskated at times but not outworked and ultimately came away with a 4-1 victory over the Golden Knights.
Cardwell, Regenda make it hard on the coaching staff
The big winners of the night were Ethan Cardwell and Pavol Regenda, both of whom had the kind of nights that are going to make the coaching staff think long and hard about what cuts to make in camp.
Looking at the Hockey Stat Cards GameScore Impact Cards, Cardwell was the top player of the night, with Regenda close behind.
When you look at their stat lines, it’s easy to understand why. Cardwell scored a hat trick, his first in the NHL, and had an assist to boot. The hat trick capped off an excellent training camp for Cardwell, who has been impactful and energetic in every preseason game he’s played in so far.
As for Regenda, he had four assists in the game, making some excellent plays to create the scoring opportunities. In many cases, the only reason that Cardwell received his scoring opportunities was because of the hard work that Regenda did to get Cardwell the puck.
Critics might say, well the hockey card shows the duo only played offense, there wasn’t much defense. But that’s because the pair, often alongside Zack Ostapchuk, had the puck most of the time, and so they were usually driving offense instead of playing defense. When they were on defense, they did a good job of getting back and creating turnovers so they could immediately go back on offense.
Five-man unit
Which leads to our second key of the game, a five-man unit. You have to love it when a plan comes together, and it feels like this is the Sharks’ coaching staff’s plan for the season. In the first intermission, Cardwell said something that stuck out when asked about how the game was going, “We’re not going to out skill them …”
The Sharks are a young team going up against a veteran bunch of NHL players slated to be tops in the league once again this season. San Jose knows it’s the underdog, so it needed to play as a team to win. Throughout the 60 minutes, the players back checked, covered for one another and played with a defense-first mentality. It did not stifle the player’s creativity, but it also did not shirk responsibility. If a defender pinched, a forward fell back to fill the void. There was responsible play, and so players were where they needed to be when they needed to be there. That meant that Vegas could not take advantage of miscues and misreads as much as it would have liked.
Whether this game plan sticks through an 82-game season is a tall order, but it was nice to see it play out at least in one preseason game. This is the Sharks hockey that we might see more of in 2024-25, and I’m there for it. A competitive game where my palm isn’t smacking my forehead every five minutes.
Nedeljkovic is a solid, reliable backup
Heading into the offseason, there were some concerns over who would backup Yaroslav Askarov as he embarked on his first full season as a young goaltender in the National Hockey League. After watching Alex Nedeljkovic in the net last night, there’s a steady confidence that the Sharks are going to be okay. Nedeljkovic was a steadying presence in the net, making saves against some of the top players in the league.
There was this save against Mitch Marner on the breakaway.
Ned denies Mitch Marner with the glove save🔥 pic.twitter.com/nNY9wlo0oJ
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 4, 2025
And this set of saves against the swarming Golden Knights.
Ned's showing off between the pipes 😤 pic.twitter.com/6nsYb3AyDl
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 4, 2025
In total, Nedeljkovic stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced and finished the night with a .966 save percentage. He was very, very good in the net and will give the Sharks’ coaching staff the opportunity to rest Askarov during the season and give him games off for development as they work him into the NHL.
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights Oct. 3, 2025
First Period
1:18 SJS Ethan Cardwell from Pavol Regenda
Second Period
16:21 SJS Egor Afanasyev from Pavol Regenda and Ethan Cardwell on the power play
Third Period
6:48 SJS Ethan Cardwell from Pavol Regenda and Zack Ostapchuk
7:11 VGK Alexander Holtz from Kaedan Korczak and Brandon Saad
17:52 SJS Ethan Cardwell from Pavol Regenda into the empty net
