The Vegas Golden Knights stole two points in one of the most insane and fortuitous wins in franchise history when they defeated the Sharks 4-3 in overtime Thursday night in San Jose.
The Sharks were 1:34 away from snapping Vegas’ eight-year streak of never losing in regulation at SAP Center. Instead, a truly bizarre sequence of events led to Vegas netting a late equalizer and then scoring on an empty net 1:24 into overtime for the 4-3 win.
Vegas got goals from Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev, Jack Eichel and Reilly Smith, who scored the game-winner to improve Vegas’ 2025-26 record to 1-0-1.
First period
For the second time in 24 hours, the Golden Knights surrendered the first goal of the contest.
The Sharks threw everything at the net early and eventually got a favorable bounce, as a centering pass deflected off Zach Whitecloud’s skate right to Jeff Skinner in front. On his third whack at the puck, Skinner beat Akira Schmid to give the Sharks the 1-0 edge at 5:31.
But an impressive individual effort by Howden on a gorgeous shift reset the score less than three minutes later. Howden collected the puck near the blue line, skated to the wall, cut back across the zone, glided around the crease and then tucked the puck around Alex Nedeljkovic for his first of the season.
Second period
It was all Sharks early in the second period, and the home team was able to make the most of it.
The Golden Knights took three penalties in the first 6:31. William Karlsson was whistled for the second time in two nights, giving him as many penalty minutes this year as he had all of last season. However, it was penalties to Tomas Hertl (boarding) and Mitch Marner (slashing) that led to San Jose’s second goal of the night.
The Sharks needed just 28 seconds on the ensuing 5-on-3 to take a 2-1 lead. Brayden McNabb made a great block on the penalty kill, but the puck bounced to Alex Wennberg, who poked it into the cage at 6:59.
The Golden Knights got a power play of their own and wasted little time before none other than Dorofeyev lit the lamp to make it a 2-2 game. It was Dorofeyev’s fourth goal in less than five periods of hockey, and it was a carbon copy of the two almost identical goals he scored on the man-advantage Wednesday against the Kings.
The Golden Knights got another power play later in the period but were unable to capitalize.
Third period
Once again, the Sharks took a lead early in the period. Less than three minutes in, Philipp Kurashev tipped a point shot by Dmitry Orlov to give San Jose its third one-goal lead of the night.
That lead would hold for the majority of the frame, and all signs pointed towards Vegas coming away empty-handed.
But with the net empty, the Golden Knights made two desperation plays to prevent San Jose from icing the game. The first was a diving poke check by Eichel to prevent San Jose from an empty-net goal. Then, Shea Theodore made a goal-line stop to keep the puck out of the net.
There was a scramble behind the net, but eventually the Golden Knights got the puck to Eichel along the boards. Eichel then skated to center ice and flipped a pop-up shot towards the net to get a whistle.
Instead, he picked up his second goal and sixth point in two games, as the puck somehow found its way past Nedeljkovic to knot things up at 3-3. The equalizer came at 18:26 and allowed Vegas to force overtime.
Overtime
The Golden Knights had a 2-on-1 early in the extra frame, but Nedeljkovic made a strong kick save on Theodore’s bid. But that would be his final save of the night.
Later that shift, Nedeljkovic skated out to the blue line to play the loose puck ahead to a teammate. It was a race to the puck between Nedeljkovic and Smith, but a second’s hesitation by Nedeljkovic was enough to allow Smith to deflect the pass.
The puck slid along the blue line, and Theodore reached out to poke it ahead to Smith, whose forward motion had carried him past Nedeljkovic.
Alone in front of an empty cage, Smith then casually guided the puck into the net to seal one of the most improbable wins the Golden Knights have achieved over the last eight-plus seasons.
To say the Golden Knights pulled off a miraculous comeback would be an understatement.
One night after leaving a point on the table, Vegas stole two in San Jose.
The Sharks were inches away from solidifying their first regular-season, regulation win over the Golden Knights on home ice. But the game is 60 minutes for a reason, and the Golden Knights demonstrated why.
Did the Golden Knights make their own luck? Is San Jose that unlucky?
When all is said and done, it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the year, they don’t ask how you got them, they just ask how many points you have. There will be plenty of times throughout the next 80 games when Vegas is on the other side of the puck luck. But every point is important, and though these two may not have been earned in a conventional manner, they now belong to the Golden Knights.
That being said, the Golden Knights did not play for 60 minutes, and the intensity was lacking for stretches throughout the game.
But Vegas did erase three one-goal deficits, and the Golden Knights never trailed at the end of a period. There’s something to be said about that. Plus, the plays by Eichel and Theodore to protect the empty net as well as Smith’s hustle to the puck in overtime were all impressive efforts by a team that didn’t stop playing.
However, the win does not erase the fact that San Jose was the better team. The Sharks played with more desperation, and, but for two extremely unlikely plays, the better team would have walked away with a victory.
Even so, there were some positives. The power play struck once again, though it later faltered and finished 1-for-4 on the night (the penalty kill went 3-for-4).
Eichel and Dorofeyev continue to light it up, and Mark Stone collected another two assists.
Schmid is now to 3-0-1 with the Golden Knights. He made a key save in the third period to prevent San Jose from taking a two-goal lead, and he finished the night with 20 saves on 23 shots for an .870 save percentage.
For much of the game, especially early on, the fourth line was Vegas’ best; the trio of Howden, Colton Sissons and Keegan Kolesar led 9-5 in Corsi with two high-danger chances in 7:57. Kolesar assisted on Howden’s goal for his first point of the season. So did Ben Hutton, who was filling in for the injured Noah Hanifin. Hanifin did not make the trip with Vegas and is listed as day-to-day.
The Golden Knights will take on their third Pacific Division opponent when they take on the Kraken Saturday night in Seattle.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Sat Trick.