Vegas Golden Knights win shootout thriller against San Jose Sharks

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Fortress was UNLV Strong on Sunday night as the Vegas Golden Knights took on the San Jose Sharks, for the first game of a four-game homestand, in front of a crowd of 17,849 people. The game took a dramatic turn but the Golden Knights were able to hold on for the 5-4 win.

It only took 29 seconds before the San Jose Sharks got on the board. Defenseman Mario Ferraro was able to get the puck past the outstretched arms of Vegas Golden Knights' goalie Jiri Patera to score his first goal of the season. Sunday night marked Patera's first start since March 19.

The Golden Knights had control of the puck for five or six shifts in a row. They also had another chance to score after their first power play of the game. That's because with 3:32 to go in the first period, Kyle Burroughs was tagged with a two-minute penalty after tripping Brayden McNabb. Despite out-shooting the Sharks in the first, the Golden Knights weren't able to convert on the power play and ended the first period down by one.

Vegas evened things up in the second period thanks to a rush down the ice that led to Jonathan Marchessault and Brett Howden going two-on-one with Sharks' goalie Kaapo Kahkonen. Marchessault was able to find the back of the net and tied the game at one.

At 6:56 into the second period, San Jose forward Nico Sturm was called for high-sticking against VGK's Zach Whitecloud to give Vegas its second power play of the game. Just a few minutes later, at 10:39, San Jose got their first power play of the game after VGK's Ivan Barbashev was called for hooking and received a two-minute penalty. However, neither team was able to take advantage of an extra man of the ice and both power plays were killed off.

The Golden Knights got another chance with a power play 14:31 into the second period. That's after San Jose's Henry Thrun was called for holding against VGK's William Carrier. This time, Vegas was able to get on the board thanks to Chandler Stephenson who scored. Alex Pietrangelo and Mark Stone also picked up assists on the play to put the Golden Knights up 2-1 going into the third period.

Vegas got off to a quick start in the third period. Just 1:43 into the period, Brayden McNabb slapped one in to put the Golden Knights up 3-1. Jack Eichel and Kaedan Korczak were also credited with assists on the play.

San Jose chipped away at the lead a few minutes later. At 3:56 in the third, Sharks' forward Mike Hoffman was able to bank a puck off of Korczak and find the back of the net to make it 3-2.

However, Vegas looked to extend its lead by tacking on another goal in the third, courtesy of Marchessault. At 9:23, Stephenson and Whitecloud were able to get the puck through traffic to Marchessault, who scored his second goal of the night and his 14th of the season. This is also his fourth multiple-goal game of the year and he leads the Golden Knights' franchise with 24.

Once again, the Sharks looked to swim away with a goal of their own. With 3:45 left in the game, Calen Addison found his way to the front of the Vegas net and got the puck through traffic to score and make it 4-3. San Jose's offense was scrappy and they tied things up at four thanks to a goal from Hoffman, his second of the night, with just 38.2 seconds left in the game. Officials reviewed the goal for a hard pass. However, they ruled the goal would stand and sent the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Sharks got off a few shots on goal. However, Patera was a wall and there was nothing happening for either team. That meant the game would end with a shootout.

Neither team scored in the first round. Eichel put Vegas on the board in the second round while San Jose missed. Then, it was Marchessault who scored to seal the 5-4 win for the Golden Knights.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy said he was glad the team got the win with Patera in the net.

"When we looked at the week, we knew Hilly wouldn't be available. We knew we'd play Logan three out of the four. It sort of fell on this game to go to Jiri," Cassidy said. "He did his prep work when he could. He was going to be ready to play in terms of the reps. I was hoping we'd play better in front of him, for everybody's sake, but we also knew it was our fourth game in six days and they were sitting here waiting for us. He settled in and made some good saves. All in all, he certainly gave us a chance to win and we did."

Eichel agreed with Cassidy and said after so many games on the road, it's nice to be home.

"You just want to take care of business. Good teams do that. By no means was it our best effort. We definitely want to clean some things up but we did enough to get two points and that's what matters," Eichel said. "It feels like we've been on the road for quite awhile. We have a few games here, but not too many. So take advantage of a little home cooking and sleeping in your own bed and spending time with family."

The Golden Knights continued to honor the local community and support the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Sunday. Before the game, the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation sold T-shirts to benefit UNLV Student Services. The shirts were sold out before the puck even dropped for the game.

The Vegas Golden Knights also honored the victims of the UNLV shooting as well as the first responders who saved lives that day. Carnell Johnson, aka the Golden Pipes, also wore a UNLV sweater to show his support while he sang the National Anthem. During the game, the Vegas Golden Knights wore golden helmets with a UNLV sticker on them and the coaching staff wore UNLV lapel pins.

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After Sunday's game, Cassidy said several Misfits took the lead on how to move forward as a team as they continue to look for ways to support the city.

"The original guys have been through this so they probably took a bigger lead than anybody in understand what's going on back here. Sometimes, when you're away on the road, you become a little detached on what's going on at home," Cassidy said. "It's tough news for everybody. There's a member of our staff that worked at UNLV so we were really concerned because it hit even closer to home than your home city. It turned out that individual was okay and safe. Unfortunately, a few others weren't. I think the guys have been through it and different places. At the end of the day, you make sure everyone close to you is safe and then you've got to go play the game. It can be difficult."

One of those guys is Marchessault who said Sunday night brought back memories from their first game after 1 October.

"The first thing that comes up is not again. Right? It's really sad events, not necessarily just here in Las Vegas but in the world," Marchessault said. "Obviously, we're going to be there for the community. We're part of the community. We're going to help them heal. I thought they did a great job acknowledging it before the game, not only the event but lifting our hats to the first responders. It's just sad that it's happening again to our city."

Cassidy was asked about gun violence after the game.

"I'm certainly an advocate for stricter gun laws. How do you get there? Everyone has said that. How do you get there? That's on the politicians to sort through that because I think the general public is certainly willing to address some of those laws, with still having a right to firearms. How do you meet halfway," Cassidy said. "How it lands or ends, I don't know. I'm not on top of the subject on a daily basis, especially Nevada. But it's another tragedy that seems like, at some point, these could be avoided a little bit. Me speaking out about it, I don't think it will affect it at all. This is the people that are paid to do their job to sort through that and then, the people electing them. That's one way. You can cast your vote. Will that change it? I don't know but that's certainly a way you can directly impact it, at least off the top of my head."

The Golden Knights return to The Fortress on Tuesday to face off against the Calgary Flames. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.