Golden Knights at Sharks
Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson are paving the way for the Vegas Golden Knights during their Cinderella expansion season. The talented duo looks to continue its torrid ways on Thursday when the Golden Knights complete a three-game road trip against the Pacific Division rival San Jose Sharks.
Marchessault recorded his second straight multi-point performance on Tuesday when he scored and set up a goal in a 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh. The 27-year-old, who has 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) of his club-best 52 over the last 22 games, set up a pair of goals in the first encounter versus San Jose before scoring in overtime of the 5-4 win on Nov. 24. While Vegas is comfortably in first in the Pacific, San Jose finds itself clinging to second place following losses in five of its last seven outings - with Tuesday's 3-1 setback in Colorado ending a five-game road trip. Joel Ward, who scored for the first time since Nov. 22, had an assist in the first meeting with the Golden Knights.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet 360, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountains (Vegas), NBCS California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (35-14-4): Karlsson scored his team-best 28th goal just 2:09 into the first period on Tuesday, extending Vegas' stretch of consecutive games with a power-play tally to eight. The 25-year-old Swede netted a pair of goals in the first encounter versus San Jose, with one coming with the man advantage. Linemate Reilly Smith, who had an assist in the first meeting with San Jose, set up a pair of goals against Pittsburgh to increase his point total to seven (four goals, three assists) in the past 18 games.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (28-17-8): Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic has turned it on since the calendar flipped to 2018, setting up Ward against the Avalanche to increase his point total to 13 (six goals, seven assists) in that stretch. "They're just going in," Vlasic said matter-of-factly. "Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. Take a look at Brent (Burns). (He has) more than 200 shots. He could easily have 30 goals. The more you join the rush, the more you'll get rewarded and that's what's been going on." Speaking of Burns, he has recorded 19 points since the start of 2018.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose G Martin Jones sports a 9-4-2 mark at home as opposed to 6-9-3 on the road.
2. Golden Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury owns a 5-3-3 career mark versus the Sharks despite posting a 2.15 goals-against average.
3. The Sharks reassigned F Marcus Sorensen and D Tim Heed to San Jose of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.