From the opening draw, it was evident that this game was not going the Sharks’ way. The Vegas Golden Knights scored 14 seconds into game courtesy of William Karlsson, and everything went downhill from there. The Sharks gave up three more goals in the opening period and one more early in the second period. They were able to keep the Golden Knights at bay for most of the second and part of the third, but Alex Tuch ended that with his seventh goal of the year.
The Sharks played from behind from the very first shift and were never able to gain any momentum. Even with a few good chances on Marc-Andre Fleury, they weren’t able to spoil his league-leading fifth shutout of the season. Aaron Dell was, oddly enough, was part of the reason the score wasn’t any worse. He made 30 saves on 36 shots, and made some big saves on a few 2-on-1 chances in the second and third periods, after not having an ideal opening 20 minutes, making just 7 saves on 11 shots.
Evander Kane and Peter Deboer were both shown the door with five minutes left in the second period. The penalties to Kane were tripping, an unsportsmanlike conduct, abuse of officials and then a game misconduct. Deboer was also given a game misconduct after arguing with the official about Kane’s ejection.
The Sharks added to their bad luck with Barclay Goodrow also receiving game misconduct and penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. With mix of some bad penalties, calls and many unlucky bounces, it was a recipe for complete disaster for the Sharks.
In the broadcast last night, Randy Hahn brought up how this game had a similar feeling to Game 1 of last year’s playoff series against the Golden Knights. And these games felt very similar, not just in the score, but in the flow of the game.
In Game 1, the Sharks gave up four goals in the first, with the Golden Knights first coming from Cody Eakin 4:31 into the first period. Similarly, they gave up a goal earlier in the second period and then were able to hold off the Golden Knights for the rest of the second and then with five minutes into the third the Golden Knights scored again.
As in last night’s game, the Sharks were outplayed and weren’t able to come back after getting behind earlier and quickly. Hopefully on this Eastern road trip, the Sharks will be able to rebound from this horrible start.
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