Sharks at Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights continue to defy logic as they try for their eighth straight home victory when they host the San Jose Sharks on Friday in the teams' first meeting. Vegas (13-6-1) matched the NHL record for victories by an expansion team in its first 20 games set by the 1917-18 Montreal Canadiens with a 4-2 victory at Anaheim on Wednesday behind No. 4 goaltender Maxime Lagace, who was making his 10th straight start.
With No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury still recovering from a concussion and No. 2 Malcolm Subban recently activated off injured reserve, Lagace (5-5-1, 3.50 goals-against average, .873 save percentage) has helped the Golden Knights take over first place in the Pacific Division despite some not-so-stellar numbers. "It's a big win tonight," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant told reporters Wednesday. "I thought our team played excellent all night long, and somebody said we are in first place. Is that official? Perfect." San Jose snapped a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) and improved to 5-2 on the road with a 3-1 victory at Arizona on Wednesday - the first time it has scored more than two goals in five games - as the league's fourth-worst offense struggles at 2.45 goals per contest. "We got enough offense to win. That's all that matters," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer told reporters. "Come on the road, tough environment, they're playing well, I thought we played a good road game."
TV: 6 p.m. ET, NBCSN California (San Jose), AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Las Vegas)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (11-8-1): Defenseman Brett Burns, the reigning Norris Trophy winner who is set to play his 900th NHL game, recorded an assist Wednesday for his first point in nine games and remains scoreless with a team-worst minus-6 this season. Melker Karlsson (upper-body injury) has missed the last two games, but traveled with the team. Joe Pavelski hasn't scored in eight straight contests as he pursues his 300th career goal.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (13-6-1): William Karlsson has six of his 10 goals this season in the last five contests, including four during a three-game streak after recording a goal and an assist Wednesday. James Neal scored his team-high 11th goal Wednesday and has three in the last five games. David Perron (club-best 19 points) recorded two of his team-most 13 assists Wednesday and has 11 points (two goals) in his last eight contests.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose C Joe Thornton scored his 387th career goal Wednesday for his 1,402nd point - 20th on the NHL's all-time list. Thornton also needs one assist to tie Joe Sakic for 12th all-time with 1,016.
2. Vegas is 4-2-0 in its last six games despite going 2-for-14 on the power play while the Sharks are 1-for-21 with the man advantage over their last eight contests.
3. The Golden Knights are 8-1-0 at home and have scored at least three goals in every game.