The Sharks had their first home game of the year and first game against the Golden Knights this afternoon, but they ended up dropping it 3-1. Vegas has blown out San Jose in some of the times they have faced each other in the past, but thankfully this game didn't end in blowout fashion.
The Knights jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first on a goal from Jonathan Marchessault. Later in the first period, both Evander Kane and Ryan Reaves were assessed minor penalties and continued to chirp each other while in the box, which never gets old. Having most of the glass from the penalty box removed and no fans in attendance made it easier for Kane and Reaves to talk trash towards each other.
Vegas added another one in the second period from Mark Stone, while the Sharks got one back from Tomas Hertl's third in the past two games, making it 2-1 in favor of the Knights. Rudolfs Balcers recorded his first Sharks point with an assist and great pass on the Hertl goal, while Marc-Eduoard Vlasic recorded the secondary assist on the same goal. Continuing in the second period, Jonathan Marchessault went after Radim Simek once and shook up Simek. Marchessault then proceeded to crosscheck Simek, forcing Simek to leave the game with an upper body injury. What made matters worse was that the refs didn't call a penalty on Marchessault for his crosscheck to Simek, which is inexcusable. The two hits by Marchessault came after Simek laid a hit on Reilly Smith moments prior. In addition, none of the Sharks players retaliated after Marchessault crosschecked Simek; way to stick up for your teammates.
In the third period, Chandler Stephenson scored to give the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead. Erik Karlsson didn't play for the last 11 and a half minutes of the game as he left due to a lower body injury. Karlsson is expected to be day-to-day as a result.
Overall, despite increased production from Tomas Hertl, it was another rough outing for the Sharks. Martin Jones made 23 saves on 26 shots from the Golden Knights. The heavier of a workload that Jones receives in net, the greater his performance level tends to decrease. On another note, Kurtis Gabriel made his Sharks debut against the Knights this afternoon.
It would be great to see more consistency from the Sharks this season, but consistency will be hard to come by if Bob Boughner is always shuffling the forward lines and defense pairs. Boughner and the coaching staff should try to stick to a few forward lines and d-pairs for some time and see hoe they perform down the stretch. If there are any forward lines and d-pairs that have been and remained productive for the Sharks, then those should remain intact.
I also found out some behind-the-scenes drama on why Erik Karlsson and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic aren't performing well right now, but that discussion will be for another time.
No one really knows how long this rough patch for the Sharks will continue. Team Teal will return to action on Monday against the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30 pm PT, with Alexei Melnichuk expected to get the start in goal.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area, ESPN, The Athletic
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