Patera, Golden Knights recover for shootout win against Sharks

LAS VEGAS -- Jiri Patera made 35 saves in his season debut for the Vegas Golden Knights, who recovered for a 5-4 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

Patera made the start with Adin Hill unavailable because of a lower-body injury. Logan Thompson made 19 saves in a 6-1 win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

“He did a really good job for us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He played a little bit last year (two games). He got a taste of it. ... He was going to be ready to play in terms of his reps. His first game of the year, you never know. I was hoping we’d play better in front of him for everyone’s sake.”

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, and Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (19-5-5), who extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3).

“You got to take care of business, obviously. It's not an easy game,” Vegas forward Jack Eichel said. “We had an emotional win last night against Dallas, traveled home, and they're sitting here waiting for us. They've been playing good hockey. Very competitive, and at the end of a road trip. They gave us all we could handle, and it was just good that we found a way to get two points.”

Mike Hoffman scored twice, Mikael Granlund had two assists, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves for the Sharks (8-17-3), who rallied from multiple goals down for the third straight game (2-0-1).

“We've created a blueprint of how we're going to have success here over the last month. We've been doing it, but not as consistently as we have over the last two games, and our guys pretty much understand how we're going to have success,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we defended pretty well. Not a lot of big time chances. I thought they had a five-minute stretch in the third where they kind of hemmed us in a little bit, but a month ago, that's 25 minutes of hemmed in hockey that we were trying to fight through.”

Mario Ferraro scored 29 seconds into the game to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead, roofing a wrist shot through a screen from the top of the left circle.

Marchessault tied it 1-1 at 5:34 of the second period, electing to shoot on a 2-on-1 and beating Kahkonen short side from the left circle.

Stephenson gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 15:44 by redirecting in a backdoor pass from Alex Pietrangelo on a power play.

Brayden McNabb pushed it to 3-1 at 1:43 of the third period. He scored just under the crossbar from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Eichel.

“It was a great play by Jack, and I just got it through and it went in,” McNabb said. “I try and stay consistent and chip in when I can. I make the plays I see when they’re there. If guys put them in, great. Shots on net. I don’t say anything is changing. Sometime that’s how hockey goes. They come in waves.”

Hoffman cut it to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 3:56 when his centering attempt from below the goal line deflected in off Golden Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak.

“I'm looking to shoot the puck every opportunity I get, so if I get the puck in spots on the ice to shoot it, I’m obviously going to do so,” Hoffman said.

Marchessault scored his second of the game with a one-timer off a pass from Stephenson to make it 4-2 at 9:23.

Calen Addison scored his first of the season to get the Sharks to within 4-3 at 16:15. Hoffman then scored his second of the game on a one-timer from the low slot with Kahkonen on the bench for the extra skater to tie it 4-4 at 19:21.

“We're not giving up. We're going to, you know, grind it out and try and fight right until the end,” Hoffman said. “Obviously, 6-on-5 is nice when you can get those goals. When you're hot and things are going well, it seems everything finds the back of the net in that situation.”

NOTES: Sharks forward William Eklund was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic also didn't play because of personal reasons. There was no update on either postgame. …  Eichel extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, eight assists).