Sharks Lose 4-1 To Golden Knights In Season Opener
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Reilly Smith had two goals, Cody Glass scored the first of his career and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Mark Stone also scored for the Golden Knights.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who was 2-1-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage in the preseason, made 21 saves to earn the win in the 799th game of his career.
Fleury, now in his 16th season, improved to 10-5-0 in openers. The victory tied him with Curtis Joseph (10-2-0) and Martin Brodeur (10-5-3) for the most season-opening wins in NHL history.
Vegas, which will play in San Jose on Friday, improved to 6-1-2 all-time against the Sharks in the regular season.
Marcus Sorensen scored for San Jose. Martin Jones, who tied for third in the league with 36 wins last season, made 31 saves.
Now in its third season, Vegas is 54-22-7 at T-Mobile Arena during the regular season.
Stone opened the scoring when he corralled a loose puck in the circle and snapped a wrist shot past Jones on the power play. Less than two minutes later it was Smith taking a feed from William Karlsson and one-timing the pass from the doorstep to give Vegas a 2-0 lead. It was Karlsson's 100th career assist.
Sorensen cut the lead in the half when he took Logan Couture's touch pass from the point, skated into the circle and rifled a wrist shot just over the top of Fleury's glove.
Glass, making his NHL debut, extended Vegas' lead to 3-1 when he one-timed a pass from Max Pacioretty. Glass was the Golden Knights' first draft selection, taken sixth overall in 2017.
Smith scored his second goal when he and Karlsson found themselves on a 2-on-0 breakaway and played tic-tac-toe right up to Jones' doorstep, making it 4-1 early in the third period.
NOTES: A regular season-record crowd of 18,588 was in attendance at T-Mobile Arena. ... Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt left midway through the first period and did not return with what appeared to be a knee injury. Couture came in hard from the left and slammed the front of his knee into the side of Schmidt's knee, which buckled and dropped him. ... One day after rookies Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy were assigned to the Chicago Wolves, the Golden Knights recalled both prior to Wednesday's game. Both were healthy scratches along with fellow rookie Jimmy Schuldt. ... Kevin Labanc went down after taking a cross-check from Tomas Nosek in the third period and was helped to the locker room. ... Sharks forward Joe Thornton is one of just two players on season-opening rosters who skated in an NHL game during the 1990s. The other is Boston's Zdeno Chara. ... San Jose was without Evander Kane (suspension) and Erik Karlsson (personal matter). ... Sharks defenseman Brent Burns played in his 472nd consecutive game, and iron-man streak that began on Nov. 21, 2013. Burns remains two goals shy of 200. ... The Sharks fell to 1-3-1 at T-Mobile Arena during the regular season.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Host Vegas on Friday night.
Golden Knights: At San Jose on Friday night.
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