The Vegas Golden Knights (1-0-1) scored late in regulation and early in overtime to claim a 4-3 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks (0-0-1) on Thursday night at SAP Center.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
San Jose opened the scoring as Jeff Skinner found the back of the net less than six minutes into the game. Brett Howden netted his first goal of the season less than three minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. The Sharks moved back in front with a goal from Alexander Wennberg, but Pavel Dorofeyev answered with his fourth goal of the season to even the score. Early in the third, Phillipp Kurashev gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead, but Jack Eichel bounced a shot past Alex Nedeljkovic to tie the game with 1:34 to go in regulation. At 1:24 of overtime, Nedeljkovic came out of his net to play the puck and Reilly Smith cut off the play and sank his shot into the open net to lift the Golden Knights to the 4-3 win.
TOP PERFORMERS
Jack Eichel: Eichel had a goal and an assist in the win. He leads the team with six points (2G, 4A) through two games this season.
*Mark Stone*: Stone recorded two assists for the second night in a row.
Reilly Smith: Smith potted his fifth career game-winning overtime goal.
Shea Theodore: Theodore picked up an assist on Smith's goal and led Vegas in time on ice (24:52).
Pavel Dorofeyev: Dorofeyev's power-play goal brought his league-leading total to four goals in two games.
VGK STATS OF THE KNIGHT
Vegas improved to 15-0-3 all-time in regular-season games in San Jose. The Golden Knights are the second team in NHL history to record a point in 18 road games against another franchise.
Howden scored his first of the season to tie the game at 1-1, which marked the Golden Knights’ 2000th regular-season goal in franchise history (621 GP), making them the fastest team to hit the mark since the Hartford Whalers (559 GP).
Dorofeyev became the first Golden Knights player to record four goals through the team’s first two games of the season.
Eichel scored with 1:34 remaining to tie the game 3-3. The Golden Knights have scored 22 game-tying goals in the final two minutes of regulation since their inaugural season in 2017-18 which is the second most behind the Canucks (23).
WHEN VGK WINS, YOU WIN!
Fans can receive six free boneless or traditional wings at any Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant location throughout the greater Vegas metro area with a $10+ qualifying pre-tax purchase of food and non-alcoholic beverages, available for 2 days after any 2025-2026 VGK Win.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Golden Knights continue their three-game road trip with a matchup against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena. Tune in on The Spot-Vegas 34 and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.
