The San Jose Sharks take a brief trip to Vegas before they go their separate ways for the holiday break. San Jose has lost two games in a row and is desperate to avoid a third. So far, the team has been pretty good about keeping the losing streaks short, but this might be the toughest test yet, going against the Vegas Golden Knights, which is ranked second in the Pacific Division as of this morning.
The Sharks should have an extra incentive not to let Vegas win tonight. Carter Hart is expected to start. A win would give Hart his 100th career win, something I think we can all agree should not happen on San Jose’s watch. As one sports writer pointed out, Hart has not rescued the Golden Knights as some believed. The Knights were 5-0-2 prior to signing the goaltender and are now 11-8-8 since the signing.
The Golden Knights before signing Carter Hart:
— Tyler Bischoff (@Bischoff_Tyler) December 22, 2025
5-0-2 (.857 points percentage) 1st in the NHL
The Golden Knights after signing Carter Hart:
11-8-8 (.555 points percentage) 19th in the NHL
The Golden Knights will be without top defenseman Shea Theodore. He was placed on IR and will be week-to-week. Dylan Coghlan was recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights in a corresponding move. Vegas might also be without top scorer Jack Eichel, who was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. William Karlsson is out longer term with a lower-body injury.
Eichel is the team’s top scorer with 41 points, but again, whether he plays tonight is questionable. Mitch Marner is second on the team with 36 points. Pavel Dorofeyev is the team’s top goal scorer with 15 goals. Tomas Hertl is close behind with 14 goals.
In the net, Akira Schmid has taken over. He’s 11-3-4 with a .896 save percentage. Carter Hart is 3-1-2 with a .903 save percentage.
This is the third of four meetings between these two teams. The Sharks lost the first one in overtime 4-3 on Oct. 9 and the second one 4-3 in regulation on Nov. 29.
San Jose Sharks lines
According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Ethan Cardwell will be in for Adam Gaudette, who is a little “nicked up.” Meantime, Nick Leddy will be in for Vincent Iorio. Yaroslav Askarov will start today.
Forwards
Collin Graf — Macklin Celebrini — Igor Chernyshov
William Eklund — Alexander Wennberg — Tyler Toffoli
Ethan Cardwell — Ty Dellandrea — Jeff Skinner
Barclay Goodrow — Zack Ostapchuk — Ryan Reaves
Defense
Mario Ferraro — Shakir Mukhamadullin
Dmitry Orlov — John Klingberg
Sam Dickinson — Nick Leddy
Goaltenders
Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic
Vegas Golden Knights lines vs. San Jose Sharks tonight
According to SinBing.vegas, these were the lines at the morning skate. Even without Theodore, the Vegas blueline will be tough to crack for the Sharks. There’s still the top pairing of Brayden McNabb and Kaeden Korczak. Hart will start in the net.
Forwards
Ivan Barbashev – Mitch Marner – Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev – Tomas Hertl – Alexander Holtz
Reilly Smith – Brett Howden – Braeden Bowman
Brandon Saad – Colton Sissons – Keegan Kolesar
Defense
Brayden McNabb – Kaeden Korczak
Noah Hanifin – Ben Hutton
Jeremy Lauzon – Zach Whitecloud
Goaltenders
Carter Hart
Akira Schmid
How to watch San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights Dec. 23, 2025
The puck drops at 7 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Sharks fans can watch tonight’s game on NBCSCA or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Vegas fans can watch the game on Scripps Sports or The Spot-Vegas 34 in Vegas or listen on FOX Sports Las Vegas 94.7/1340 and Deportes Vegas 1460.
Be sure to come back here at game time to join other Sharks fans in talking about how much you hate Vegas. Go Sharks.
