It was a 4-1 game; it was a 4-4 game. Maxime Lagace and Martin Jones started; Malcolm Subban and Aaron Dell finished. There was a goal called back after review; there was a goal allowed after review.
This was not a well-played game from either the Vegas Golden Knights or San Jose Sharks, but it was evenly sloppy, and both sides came out with a well-deserved point. However, Jonathan Marchessault earned the extra point for Vegas with the 5-4 OT winner.
San Jose is still among the heavier teams in the league, so it wasn't in Vegas's best interest to try to compete with Joe Thornton and company down low.
Before William Karlsson's second goal, which made it 4-1, the Knights kept the puck far away from their hashmarks with insistent forechecking and dogged neutral zone battle:
To Ryan's credit, he eventually advances the puck, but Karlsson, instead of trailing the play, is now in place to create NZ havoc:
It looks like I'll be quoting Guy Boucher all year. This was the epitome of "relentless" hockey.
This was also Karlsson's eighth goal in six games.
Pluses
The Swede scored two goals, but he could've had more. He fired seven shots on a goal, a new career game-high.
"Would've been nice to get the hat trick," laughed the ex-Blue Jacket, who entered the season with a career 7.7 shooting %. He's rocking a 24.5 this year.
The Marchessault-Karlsson-Reilly Smith line was once again the squad's most dangerous.
Indeed, Marchessault was all over the place. Besides the OT winner, he notched a well-earned assist on the James Neal power play strike which made it 2-0:
On Neal goal: Dillon has a chance to clear on PK, but Marchessault does lovely job dancing on blueline and evading two converging Sharks to keep it in for Neal to capitalize pic.twitter.com/ioScGOfuau
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 24, 2017
On Marchessault's OT winner: Theodore leaves Thornton spinning out of control & enjoys easy zone entry. Burns breaks his stick, chooses to go off while #VegasBorn still have control, Vlasic can't get back in time to cover Marchessault pic.twitter.com/03kvkwUMFx
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 25, 2017
No, Shea, you're just good.
The 22-year-old blueliner also notched the opening goal of the game, which featured some eye-catching work from Alex Tuch and Brendan Leipsic.
On the Theodore goal: Tuch turns his back and springs Leipsic into NZ, Leipsic stickhandles Burns, Eakin pass banks off Thronton's skate pic.twitter.com/Mm1sVPOq4B
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 24, 2017
Even with a 4-1 lead, the Knights weren't playing remarkable hockey; they were plagued by questionable puck management and poor coverage.
#VegasBorn lose Tierney in coverage off to side, he deflects beautiful shot-pass from Braun. #SJSharks showing some fight, 4-3 w/ 4 mins left in 2nd pic.twitter.com/hmCkA0w8xr
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 25, 2017
"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 were on the wrong side of the puck a lot tonight."
Playing the wrong way almost put the Golden Knights down 5-4 early in the third:
Couture goal called back because of this #VegasBorn #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/iasqABYpT7
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 25, 2017
Leading scorer David Perron ran into this wall in the middle frame:
David Perron isn't on the Vegas bench at the moment. He took this shot from Timo Meier earlier. pic.twitter.com/x8Xqgbhz8n
— Ryan Quigley (@RP_Quigs) November 25, 2017
After giving up four goals on 23 shots, Lagace was pulled before the final frame. Interestingly, he was not on the bench throughout the third, suggesting some injury.
Gallant, however, indicated that Lagace was simply not "feeling well." Regardless, he refused to commit to Subban as the starter tomorrow evening.
The Knights ride into Glendale for the back-to-back, hoping to win their fifth straight.
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