On the heels of losing back-to-back games in regulation for the first time this season, the Vegas Golden Knights return home to Las Vegas to open a four-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
Vegas brings in a three-game losing streak, including a 6-3 loss at Calgary on Saturday followed by a 4-3 setback in Edmonton on Sunday.
That’s the bad news. The good news is San Jose, a team that the Golden Knights have dominated in the regular season since joining the league in 2017, is next up on the schedule.
Vegas is an eye-popping 29-2-5 all-time against the Sharks in the regular season, outscoring them by a combined 141-77 in the process. The Golden Knights have won both of the two previous meetings this year by identical 4-3 scores — on Oct. 9 in San Jose in overtime and on Nov. 29 in Las Vegas.
Slow starts, a problem at times during the season, plagued Vegas during its weekend trip to Alberta.
The Golden Knights fell behind 3-1 in the first period in Calgary and trailed 5-1 midway through the second period before rallying to cut the deficit to 5-3 in the third on a Mark Stone goal. Jonathan Huberdeau sealed the win for the Flames with an empty-netter.
Vegas fell behind 2-0 in the first period the following night in Edmonton and trailed 4-0 in the second period before scoring three straight goals and having a chance to force overtime after pulling goaltender Carter Hart in the final two minutes. The Golden Knights outshot Calgary and the Oilers by a combined 33-8 in the third period.
“We want to do better on the starts,” said forward Mitch Marner, who had a goal and an assist in Edmonton. “The last two (games) haven’t been nearly up to our standard. We’ve got to make sure to focus on that Tuesday. Make sure we start on time, put the pressure on them, and make sure we’re just making smart plays.”
“It’s a huge game for us,” defenseman Noah Hanifin, who had three assists against the Oilers, said. “It’s another divisional game against a good team. We’ve got to take what we did in the second half tonight and we’ve got to be ready to do that right after the puck drops on Tuesday.”
San Jose is just two points out of a Western Conference wild-card position heading into Monday night and will be trying to snap a two-game losing streak on Tuesday.
The Sharks come in off a 4-2 home loss to the Seattle Kraken, who snapped a four-game losing streak by scoring three consecutive goals in the final 18 minutes to pull out the win.
Goals by Adam Gaudette and Collin Graf staked San Jose to a 2-1 lead early in the third before Seattle rebounded. Ryan Lindgren scored what proved to be the game winner on a shot that caromed in off the skate of defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and over the blocker of goaltender Yaroslav Askarov.
“Frustrating,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I thought at moments we had some good things going in our game, and then it was just frustrating.”
Tuesday’s game is the start of a three-game road trip sandwiched around the Christmas for San Jose. The trip also includes contests at Vancouver and Anaheim before the Sharks return home for a New Year’s Eve matinee against the Minnesota Wild.
–Field Level Media
