Overcoming The Odds: Puck Luck Helps Golden Knights to Late Comeback Win in San Jose

The Vegas Golden Knights turned a late 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win for their first victory of the 2025-26 season on Thursday night at SAP Center. Jack Eichel scored from center ice with 1:34 left in the third period to tie the game at 3-3 before Reilly Smith broke up a play in the San Jose zone to bury the overtime winner during the extra session. Vegas had just an 8% implied probability to win before the bounces started going their way in the win against the Sharks.

Implied probability data is provided by BetMGM.

Pregame odds: Vegas -220, San Jose +180

1st | 5:31 | Sharks 1, Golden Knights 0 | VGK chance to win: 49%
Jeff Skinner found a loose puck in front of the Vegas net and chipped it past Akira Schmid to give San Jose an early one-goal lead.

1st | 8:09 | Sharks 1, Golden Knights 1 | VGK chance to win: 67%
Brett Howden picked up the puck at the top of the Sharks' zone and carried it wide around San Jose's defense before breaking toward the goal. With a clear lane to the net, Howden drifted past Alex Nedeljkovic, who sprawled out in the crease, and fired the puck into the open cage to tie the game for Vegas.

2nd | 6:59 | Sharks 2, Golden Knights 1 | VGK chance to win: 42%
The Sharks reclaimed the lead with a 5-on-3 power-play goal in the middle frame as William Eklund's one-timer was blocked by Brayden McNabb but found the stick of Alexander Wennberg who cashed in from the top of the crease.

2nd | 14:22 | Sharks 2, Golden Knights 2 | VGK chance to win: 64%
Vegas tied the game again with a power-play goal from Pavel Dorofeyev as he converted on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Eichel and Mark Stone to net his fourth goal in two games to start the season.

3rd | 2:59 | Sharks 3, Golden Knights 2 | VGK chance to win: 34%
Phillip Kurashev deflected a shot from Dmity Orlov into the Vegas net to give the Sharks their third lead of the night.

3rd | 18:26 | Sharks 3, Golden Knights 3 | VGK chance to win: 60%
With less than two minutes to play, the Golden Knights had just an 8% chance to win the game as the Sharks burst through the neutral zone in hopes of sealing the game with an empty-net goal. Strong defensive plays from Eichel and Shea Theodore kept the puck out of Vegas' net and Eichel skated the puck to center ice. He flipped a puck toward the San Jose net and it skipped off the ice and under the arm of Nedeljkovic to find the back of the net and tie the game with 1:34 on the clock.

OT | 1:24 | Golden Knights 4, Sharks 3 | VGK chance to win: 100%
Eichel's goal was wacky, but Smith's game-winning goal in overtime will go down as one of the strangest game-winning goals in Golden Knights history. As the puck slid into the San Jose zone, Nedeljkovic skated out to play it quickly back up to a Sharks skater, but his pass hit the skates of Smith who sealed off the passing lane. Theodore was there to tap the puck to Smith who had nothing but net to shoot at from the middle of the ice. He tapped the puck into the net like he was sinking a gimme putt on the golf course to give the Golden Knights their first win of the year.