Knights take out frustrations on Sharks, 7-2

LAS VEGAS — Whether it was anger and frustration or simply time to get their act together, whatever the message was from Bruce Cassidy, the Vegas Golden Knights heard it loud and clear.

Somebody was going to get their heads handed to them and it happened to be the San Jose Sharks.

Five first-period goals set the tone for what would be the end of Vegas’ three-game losing streak as the Knights handed the supposedly improved, new-look Sharks with ease, 7-2 Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

They did it without Jack Eichel and Shea Thedore, both who missed their fourth straight game. Christmas will seem a lot better around Summerlin, where most of the players reside. A convincing win that saw so many contribute will do that.

“I expected we would play better,” Cassidy said. “I thought we had good energy this morning and we’ve been on the road so we were all looking forward to the (Christmas) break.

“I think they wanted to leave with a good taste in their mouths. They’re going to be away from the rink for three days. I was happy to see them respond.”  

The Knights scored twice off 2-on-1s, first from Brett Howden, then later in the period by Colton Sissons. They got a fluky power play goal from Mitch Marner when his pass banked off the skate of Alex Wennberg and past Yaroslav Askarov, the Sharks’ sensational young goaltender. And when former Shark Tomas Hertl beat Askarov from close range, coach Ryan Warofsky said enough’s enough and mercifully pulled the Russian net minder for Alex Nedeljkovic, who gave up the firth goal ion the period courtesy of a Mark Stone backhand from a nice feed from Ivan Barbashev.

All four Golden Knights centers lit the lamp in the first period which may have been a first for the nine-year franchise. That’s the kind of night this was. They played with tremendous energy from the opening faceoff and never let up. Thirteen different players recorded at least one point in the opening 20 minutes, a franchise record.

“I thought we were really good on the walls and good through our zone,” said Marner. “We made good plays, had our looks and we capitalized on them.”

It made for an easy evening for Carter Hart, who faced just five first-period shots and 23 overall in improving to 4-1-2 as he and his teammates bounced back from a frustrating weekend in Alberta that saw Vegas lose at Calgary (6-3) and to Edmonton (4-3).

A second-period gaffe by Hart cost him his bid for a shutout as his attempt to get the puck to a teammate wound up being intercepted by the Sharks and Macklin Celebrini beat him from the slot. Hart would give up a third-period goal off a rebound to Collin Graf and that was it as he recorded his 100th career NHL victory. He came up with a big stop that would ultimately lead to Vegas’ seventh goal as a 3-on-2 developed with Marner finishing off the foray for his second of the night and a 7-2 lead.

Those still in the building chanted “We want eight!” but they would have to settle for seven. Some of the firepower will be needed Saturday when the season resumes at T-Mobile against the Colorado Avalanche, hockey’s top team. The Avs have 61 points so far and look very much like the favorite for the Stanley Cup.

But that’s a long ways away. Right now, the Knights, who are in a three-way tie for the top spot in the Pacific Division with Anaheim and Edmonton, are just trying to get their roster whole. They’ve been without William Karlsson and Adin Hill for two months and while they hope to get Eichel and Theodore back in the near future, they’re not quite ready to declare themselves 100 percent healthy anytime soon.  

“Honestly, to be up 5-0 after one period is rare. It probably is going to happen once a year,” Cassidy said. “We were good on both sides of the puck and that pleased me as much as when we were up 3-0 and we didn’t change the way we played.

“There’s been lots of questions about how do you start, why can’t you get to your game right away so maybe it hit home. If it homes the next five games, then it was good.”