LAS VEGAS — Nine goals, four goalies, three blue men and another home win for the Vegas Golden Knights.
After the famed Blue Man Group treated the more than 18,000 in attendance to a between-periods show, the Golden Knights treated their fans to their ninth win in 10 home games in their inaugural season.
Jonathan Marchessault took a pass from Shea Theodore and poked the puck past Aaron Dell to give Vegas a 5-4 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday.
“We played good in overtime. We didn’t give them much chances, not even one shot I think, so it’s positive,” Marchessault. “I just tried to manage the puck and I got a lucky bounce there.”
William Karlsson scored two goals for Vegas, and Theodore and James Neal had a goal apiece.
The Sharks came into the game with the fourth-worst goals per game average (2.45) but got goals from Brent Burns, Chris Tierney and Mikkel Boedker in the second period to tie the game at 4.
“I thought when we got up 4-1, we weren’t playing great hockey,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “We took advantage of some opportunities, and they made some mistakes. But we were still making those turnovers, and they were attacking us … and I had the feeling it was going to be a tough night because we weren’t playing the right way. We didn’t have the legs. We didn’t have the same jump we had for most of the year. So, it was a battle. For us to get those two points tonight was huge for the guys, ’cause they didn’t quit when they could have.”
Vegas (29 points) remained in first place in the Pacific Division, three points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.
Vegas received a boost when San Jose had a goal reversed early in the third period after Joonas Donskoi’s skate collided with goalie Malcolm Subban’s skate in the crease.
“I thought I felt something. I wasn’t sure what it was,” said Subban, who started the third period in place of Maxime Lagace. “I’ve had a lot bigger goaltender interference calls. I’m just trying to stop the puck so if somebody hits me, I’m just trying to get back into position. I’m not sure if it’s my defenseman, or their team, or what. I’m always kind of in the moment.”
Subban, who stopped the only three shots he saw, was playing for the first time since Oct. 21 after being on the injured reserve list with a lower body injury. Lagace stopped 19 of the 23 shots he saw in the first two periods.
“For the most part it was great play by our team. We played hard at both ends of the ice,” Subban said. “We skate and buy into the game plan and I think that’s helped us.”
Theodore opened the scoring with his first goal of the season less than three minutes into the game, when his wrist shot beat Martin Jones on the glove side.
Neal made it 2-0 with his 12th goal of the season, a wrist shot that tethered the upper corner on Jones’ blocker side.
Tomas Hertl cut Vegas’ lead in half when he found Joonas Donskoi’s backhand pass through Theodore’s legs and stuffed it past Lagace.
Karlsson chased Jones 10 seconds into in the second period with his 11th goal of the season, and then welcomed Dell to the game with his 12th of the campaign.
“It feels like the puck is always there for me,” said Karlsson, who has six goals in his last four games. “Then again, my linemates really make it easy for me. It would have been nice to get the hat trick, but I’m happy with the two goals and the two points.”
Jones stopped 11 shots, while Dell stopped 17 of 19.
NOTES
Vegas W David Perron left the game with an upper body injury and did not return. … Golden Knights C Cody Eakin played in his 400th career game. … Burns played in his 900th career game. … Joel Ward’s two assists gave him 300 career points. … With his goal in the second period, Boedker is now three goals away from 100 in his career. … Comedian Brad Garrett attended the game.
UP NEXT
San Jose: Hosts Winnipeg on Saturday.
Vegas: Plays at Arizona on Saturday.
