The Vegas Golden Knights are coming off a thrilling come-from-behind victory in which they scored three goals in 85 seconds to stun the Ottawa Senators in a 6-4 decision.
The win improved Vegas’ home record to a perfect 5-0-0. The Golden Knights will aim to secure their sixth consecutive win in Sin City as they welcome the 0-6-2 San Jose Sharks to town Saturday night.
Notably, William Karlsson will make his highly anticipated season debut.
It also will be the first time Tomas Hertl faces his former team since getting dealt at last year’s trade deadline.
The Sharks drafted Hertl 17th overall in 2012, and he spent parts of 11 seasons in San Jose. He accumulated 218 goals and 484 points in 712 games, adding 24 goals and 42 points in 62 playoff contests.
Hertl had somewhat of a shaky start to the season but has come alive with three goals and five points in his last two games.
He has transformed the Golden Knights’ power play and has been a strong presence in front of the net; all four of his goals have come from within 15 feet of the net.
Seven of Hertl’s eight points have come at T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights have been electric this season.
In five games (all wins), the Golden Knights have scored an average of 5.4 goals and surrendered an average of 2.6. The power play is operating at 46.2 percent, and Vegas’ shooting percentage is 19.4 percent.
The Sharks, meanwhile, have struggled this year regardless of venue.
San Jose is 0-6-2 and has lost five straight in regulation by a combined score of 22-9. On the road, the Sharks are 0-4-1, and they’ve given up twice as many goals (4.0) per game as they’ve scored (2.0). The road power play is clicking at 25 percent, good for 18th overall, while the penalty kill is operating at 69.2 percent (28th).
First overall pick Macklin Celebrini got hurt in the first game of the year, and former fourth overall pick Will Smith has had a disappointing start to his NHL career.
Mikael Granlund leads the team in scoring with nine points, while Tyler Toffoli has a team–high four goals and seven points.
MacKenzie Blackwood is 0-3-2 with a 3.88 goals-against average and .897 save percentage; Vitek Vanecek is 0-3-0 with a 3.14 GAA and .884 save percentage.
Ilya Samsonov will make his third start in four games. He is 2-0-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .944 save percentage.
The Golden Knights swept the four-game season series against San Jose last season and are 24-2-5 in the all-time regular-season matchup.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Brett Howden — Tomas Hertl — Pavel Dorofeyev
Tanner Pearson — William Karlsson — Alexander Holtz
Brendan Brisson — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin — Alex Pietrangelo
Shea Theodore — Zach Whitecloud
Brayden McNabb — Kaedan Korczak
Ilya Samsonov
Adin Hill
Injured: Victor Olofsson, Nicolas Hague
Sharks
William Eklund — Mikael Granlund — Tyler Toffoli
Danil Gushchin — Alex Wennberg — Fabian Zetterlund
Barclay Goodrow — Ty Dellandrea — Carl Grundstrom
Klim Kostin — Nico Sturm — Luke Kunin
Jake Walman — Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro — Jan Rutta
Henry Thrun — Jack Thompson
MacKenzie Blackwood
Vitek Vanecek
Injured: Logan Couture, Macklin Celebrini, Thomas Bordeleau, Marc-Edouard Vlasic
How to watch
Game 9: Golden Knights vs. Sharks
When: 7 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, NV
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM