Sharks secure home ice, end slide with OT win against Golden Knights

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and ended their season-high seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at SAP Center on Saturday.

San Jose (44-25-9) moved to within six points of the Calgary Flames for first place in the Pacific Division and is six points ahead of third-place Vegas. The Sharks, who host Calgary on Sunday, can finish no worse than second.
"We needed a win to solidify home ice," coach Peter DeBoer said. "We needed a win mentally because we haven't found a way lately, although I think our play hasn't been as bad as our record. But there's no corners turned or any dramatic changes. We've played good hockey all year, and I think that's going to continue."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Sharks highlights]
The Golden Knights (42-30-7), who clinched a playoff berth Friday, have lost five games in a row, the longest losing streak in their two seasons in the NHL.
"We're going into the playoffs, it's time for us to step it up," said William Karlsson, who scored for Vegas. "We're losing too much. Things haven't been going our way, but that's in the past. We have to look forward."
Brent Burns scored a power-play goal from above the left face-off circle 22 seconds into overtime.
Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane scored, and Martin Jones made 23 saves for the Sharks.

"I think we had some fight-back tonight, which I don't feel we've had in the past against these guys," Kane said. "I thought that was really important to realize as a group that we know we can challenge them physically.
"I thought that was a good step in the right direction tonight to prove that to ourselves. Then once we can push back in that element of the game, our skill takes over and our game starts to feed off that."
Malcolm Subban made 30 saves for the Golden Knights in his eighth straight start in place of Marc-Andre Fleury (lower-body injury).

Kane tied the game 2-2 at 7:22 of the third period when he scored on a wrist shot from the slot.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic put San Jose ahead 3-2 at 11:26 on a slap shot from the high slot, but Shea Theodore tied it 3-3 at 12:04 on a slap shot from above the left circle.
Each team had 40 hits.
"That's what happens when you play a team, well, there's a good chance we'll see them in the first round," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "There was a little chirping from both sides. It was a good game though. We're disciplined, we'll finish hard, and we'll play hard. Those were two good teams playing hard. Neither team crossed the line."
Karlsson gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 3:54 of the first period on a slap shot from the slot.

It was the fifth straight game the Sharks allowed the first goal.
"We needed an emotional game," DeBoer said. "We knew this was a team we're going to see in the playoffs. We know the history with them, that they make you play the right way in a physical game. We gave up that first goal, I liked our response tonight. I thought we stuck with it better than we have in the past."
Hertl tied it 1-1 58 seconds into the second period when he scored his 35th goal on a wrist shot from the low slot.

"It was exactly like a playoff game," Hertl said. "Everybody on the bench was fired up. … We helped each other and finished hard. … We showed them we're not scared of them and we can play really hard against them."
Cody Eakin got to the rebound of a Deryk Engelland and lifted a backhand over Jones' left pad from close range to give Vegas a 2-1 lead at 5:30.

They said it

"Both teams wanted to win. There's pride in the rivalry, and that's the way it's going to be. I thought we played a pretty good game. There was a lot of stuff going on we could have straightened out. [Losing] 4-3 is tough at the end, in overtime. It could have gone either way. They're going to be playing hard, and I'm sure they enjoyed it as much as we did." -- Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin
"Take away this last stretch, we've had a very good year at home. We play well here, normally. That was a goal at the start of the year, to get home ice. We would've liked to put a better stretch together lately, but it's nice to get it." -- Sharks forward Logan Couture

Need to know

Golden Knights forward Paul Stastny participated in warmups but was scratched for an undisclosed reason. Gallant did not have an update. … Valentin Zykov replaced Stastny in the lineup and was minus-1 with one shot on goal and three hits in 10:21. … Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb was scratched and replaced in the lineup by Nick Holden, who was plus-1 with one shot on goal and six hits in 19:36. It was the first game McNabb missed this season. … Vegas and San Jose split the four games in their season series. ... Sharks forwards Melker Karlsson and Lukas Radil were scratched, each with an undisclosed injury. Micheal Haley (three hits in 7:20) and Dylan Gambrell (one hit in 6:51) replaced them.

What's next

Golden Knights: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Monday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Sharks: Host the Calgary Flames on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)