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Vegas Golden Knights

All The Energy: Sharks Stun Golden Knights With Late Goal, Win in Shootout

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2 years ago

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Vegas Golden Knights San Jose Sharks collapse (Photo- At&t Sportsnet)

The San Jose Sharks (32-35-14, 76 points) season has been over for a while now as the team is far out of a playoff spot and going through another year in their re-tool.

But before Sunday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, (42-31-6, 90 points) Sharks leading scorer Timo Meier said that the team would put “all their energy” into defeating the Golden Knights on Sunday which would tarnish their playoff chances.

On Sunday during the Golden Knight’s last regular-season home game of the season, the Sharks did exactly that as Meier scored with 0.9 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and the Sharks won in the shootout. This puts the Golden Knights three points behind the Dallas Stars for the second Wild Card spot in the West. The Golden Knights desperately needed the extra point but were unable to get it.

The Golden Knights and Stars will play Tuesday night and it will be a hail mary for the VGK’s season.

Despite some reports saying that he would miss the remainder of the regular season with knee surgery, Robin Lehner dressed Sunday night. However, it was Logan Thompson who got the start against the Sharks.

William Carrier also returned after missing ten games. His impact was immediately felt as the fourth line started the game. They laid a couple of big hits to set the tone. The Golden Knights started the game with a bunch of quality chances.

Shea Theodore skated went coast to coast, barely contested by the Sharks, and got a quality chance on James Reimer. Max Pacioretty followed up on the play with a rebound but hit the post. William Karlsson and Michael Amadio also teamed up for a pair of chances. Both were similar plays with one of the two setting up the other in the slot.

However, it was the Sharks who scored the first goal of the game. A point shot from Jaycob Megna squirted out and Tomas Hertl found the rebound. He scored his 30th goal of the season and for the sixth straight game, the Golden Knights allowed the first goal of the game.

The Golden Knights went to the powerplay after Meier blatantly tripped up Mark Stone, putting his stick in his skate. Just 12 seconds into the man-advantage Chandler Stephenson scored backdoor to even the score. Stone, who drew the penalty, also got his first point back since returning from injury.

With goals in three straight games, Stephenson hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career. The Golden Knights have also now scored powerplay goals in back-to-back games.

The Golden Knights continued getting great offensive chances heading into the second period. Theodore was once again stopped by Reimer with a huge glove save. Stone also set up Stephenson who was also stopped by the glove.

Meier took another penalty in the second but the Golden Knights were unable to score this time. Coming out of the box, Meier went in on a breakaway but Thompson stopped him with a glove save.

This save fuelled momentum into the Golden Knights as they went on to score two goals in the period.

Max Pacioretty scored a highlight-reel goal driving in on the right sidewall. He went backhand/forehand around Nicolas Meloche and scored on Reimer.

Then, the fourth line went to work and scored on a beautiful passing play. Nicolas Roy fed Keegan Kolesar who found Carrier with a behind-the-back no-look pass and he scored his first goal back in the lineup for the Golden Knights.

But late in the period, a bad bounce put the Sharks back within one goal. After the Sharks went over six minutes without a shot on goal, Megna threw another puck to the net and it found its way in. Nick Bonino got a stick on it to score.

The Golden Knights got another powerplay in the third with Meloche off for tripping Jonathan Marchessault. The VGK got several scrambling chances but were unable to score on the initial powerplay. They were, however, able to cash in not long after.

From behind the net, Karlsson found Nicolas Roy right in the slot and he scored his 15th goal of the season. Karlsson now has 11 points in his last 12 games.

But despite the Golden Knights playing the majority of the game better than the Sharks, the Sharks simply did not go away in the third. Reimer went to the bench with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the game and the Sharks scored to make it a one-goal game.

Bonino got his second goal of the game with a long wrist shot that simply fooled Thompson.

Stone had a chance to seal things with an empty-net goal but hit the post and the Golden Knights continued to allow the Sharks to have the puck in the final minutes of the game. This ended up costing them as Meier scored off the wall with 0.9 seconds to go in the game.

To overtime we went and no goals prompted a shootout. There it was Thomas Bordeleau who scored the only goal of the shootout to complete the comeback for the San Jose Sharks.

The Golden Knights will play what will no-doubt be their most important game of the season on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. This is it for their season. They are on the road for the remainder of the regular season and will play the Stars at 5:30 pm.

VHN’s Player of the Game: William Carrier

I had Carrier as my POTG after the first period. It doesn’t hurt that he continued to have an impressive game returning from injury and scored a goal.

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