LAS VEGAS — For Golden Knights fans, they better hope the real show is better than the final dress rehearsal.

Friday was supposed to an opportunity for what is expected to be the Vegas lineup when the regular season opens on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena. The San Jose Sharks left most of their NHL guys home and it didn’t matter as the Sharks were the team that looked more cohesive and more energized and were rewarded with a 4-1 road win as Ethan Cardwell recorded a hat trick.

For the Knights, who finished 3-4 on the preseason, it wasn’t the performance they wanted or needed. Their passing wasn’t crisp, their shots were off the mark and anything that resembled a Grade A scoring chance was handled relatively easy by Alex Nedeljkovic in the San Jose net.

And while Knights coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t pleased with the result, he understood the situation. He got to see a lot of his special teams. Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon finally made his VGK debut.

Alexander Holtz did what he could playing with Tomas Hertl and Brandon Saad to convince general manager Kelly McCrimmon he was worth getting a contract tendered his way. Holtz, who was acquired from New Jersey a year ago but didn’t produce much, was on a PTO deal during the fall training camp and preseason.

Holtz didn’t hurt his case by getting the Knights on the board in the third period after San Jose had built a 3-0 lead.

“He’s still here; he’s in the mix,” Cassidy said of Holtz.

It appears barring something drastic the opening-night lines and defensive pairs against the Kings will look something like this:

* Jack Eichel centering for Mitch Marner and Ivan Barbashev
* William Karlsson flanked by Mark Stone and Reilly Smith
 * Hertl in the middle with Saad and either Holtz or possibly Pavel Dorofeyev, who was hurt in the first preseason game and hasn’t played since but is skating again.
 * Colton Sissons centering for Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden.

The defensive pairs have Shea Theodore with Brayden McNabb, Noah Hanifin with Zach Whitecloud and Kaeden Korczak with either Lauzon or Ben Hutton.

Adin Hill, who played all 60 minutes against the Sharks, figures to be the opening night starting goalie with Akira Schmid backing him up. And while the Carter Hart-to-Vegas rumors persist, the earliest he could play would be Dec. 1 if the Knights decide to sign the former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender.

The Knights special teams weren’t particularly sharp. They were 0-for-4 on the power play with Eichel, Marner, Hertl and Theodore and Stone the first unit. The second unit, which had Barbashev, Karlsson, Smith, Hanifin and Holtz.

Both units moved the puck well but were unable to finish.

“I thought we gave ourselves some good looks,” Stone said. “We probably want to be a little sharper and shoot more often.”

Cassidy said there wasn’t a ton of time during the preseason where the lines performed together and the special teams units functioned as a whole. But what’s done is done. The next four days figure to be critical as decisions need to be made, see who is available and who would be next in line to step in should someone not be ready to go and get the focus and intensity ratcheted up for Wednesday night against the Kings.

“We’re still sorting out our line combinations,” Cassidy said. “We need to see how they perform against NHL lineups.

“I think we’re going to have to find different ways to score. I thought we defended well (during the preseason) and our penalty kill was good. I was a little surprised we didn’t score more. We probably need to be more direct in our approach when it comes to offense.”