The Vegas Golden Knights will wrap up the second half of their season-opening back-to-back when they take on the San Jose Sharks tonight at SAP Center.
The Golden Knights are coming off an action-packed 6-5 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings and will look to rebound for their first win of the new season.
Jack Eichel recorded four points in a season opener for the second year in a row, Mitch Marner tallied two assists in his Golden Knights debut, the top line combined for eight points and Pavel Dorofeyev scored a hat trick, becoming the first Golden Knight to do so in a season opener and just the fourth Golden Knight to score three goals in one period.
Tonight will be the Sharks’ season opener.
The Sharks finished the 2024-25 season in last place in the NHL with a 20-50-12 record and 52 points, nine points behind the 31st-ranked Chicago Blackhawks.
San Jose has been rebuilding for several years and now boasts an impressive group of talented young players looking to take the next step.
Macklin Celebrini, the former first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, was a finalist for the Calder Trophy last season after recording 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games. William Eklund (No. 7 overall in 2021) finished second on the team in scoring with 58 points (17 goals and 41 assists), while Will Smith (No. 4 overall in 2023) finished fourth (18-27—45).
The trio is expected to be joined by 2025 second-overall pick Michael Misa (center) as well as 2024 first-round pick (No. 11) Sam Dickinson (defenseman), though neither will make their NHL debuts tonight.
In his first year with the Sharks after inking a four-year, $24 million contract, veteran winger Tyler Toffoli hit the 30-goal mark for the third consecutive season and fourth time in his career last year, finishing third on the team in scoring with 54 points in 70 games.
The Sharks made a number of moves this offseason to bring in more of a veteran presence and provide more balance throughout the lineup.
Some of those acquisitions include forwards Jeff Skinner, Adam Gaudette, Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Reaves, defensemen Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg and Nick Leddy and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Key departures include Mikael Granlund, Fabian Zetterlund, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Cody Ceci.
Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (No. 11 overall in 2020) will see a bigger load this season after being acquired from Nashville, though Nedeljkovic will get the nod tonight.
Nedeljkovic went 14-15-5 and recorded a 3.12 goals-against average, .894 save percentage and one shutout in 38 appearances last season with Pittsburgh; he is 1-1-0 with a 2.14 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and one shutout in three career games against Vegas.
For Vegas, Akira Schmid is expected to be between the pipes after Adin Hill played last night against Los Angeles.
Schmid lost his only career start against the Sharks, yielding five goals on 17 shots back in December 2023 when he was a member of the Devils. However, he was excellent in a small sample size with Vegas last season, going 2-0-1 with a 1.26 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in five games (three starts).
UPDATE: Ben Hutton is in for Noah Hanifin, who was injured last night.
The Golden Knights are expected to roll with the same lineup otherwise. Vegas will aim to continue to generate chemistry throughout the lineup and capitalize on chances while tightening things up defensively.
Vegas is 27-2-5 all-time against the Sharks, including 14-0-3 at SAP Center, where they’ve outscored the Sharks 71-32, averaging 4.18 goals per game while surrendering an average of 1.88.
Vegas swept the season series against San Jose last year, going 3-0-0 with a 7-3 win at home on Oct. 26 as well as 6-3 and 4-2 wins on the road on Dec. 27 and Jan. 7, respectively. Vegas outscored San Jose 17-8, averaging 5.67 goals and yielding an average of 2.67 per game.
Mark Stone led the way with three goals and seven points in the series matchup, while Brett Howden and Jack Eichel each recorded five points. Both teams scored two power-play goals on seven opportunities (28.6 percent), though Vegas potted three shorthanded tallies. Among players still on the team, Eklund led the Sharks with one goal and three points.
The Golden Knights went 21-13-7 on the road last season.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mitch Marner
Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Mark Stone
Brandon Saad — Tomas Hertl — Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden — Colton Sissons — Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton — Zach Whitecloud
Jeremy Lauzon — Kaedan Korczak
Akira Schmid
Adin Hill
Sharks
Philipp Kurashev — Macklin Celebrini — Will Smith
William Eklund — Alex Wennberg — Tyler Toffoli
Jeff Skinner — Ty Dellandrea — Collin Graf
Barclay Goodrow — Adam Gaudette — Ryan Reaves
Nick Leddy — John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro — Timothy Liljegren
Dmitry Orlov — Shakir Mukhamadullin
Alex Nedeljkovic
Yaroslav Askarov
How to watch
Game 2 of 82: Golden Knights at Sharks
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: SAP Center — San Jose, CA
TV: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM