The Sharks hung in there and played very well, but it wasn't enough as they lose to the Golden Knights 2-1 and snap their three-game win streak.
One of the biggest components that kept the Sharks in this game was their goaltending, specifically Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk had another outstanding performance in net, stopping 34 of 36 shots against and making some incredible saves throughout the game.
San Jose had several great opportunities in front of the net, but they still couldn't figure out Marc-Andre Fleury for the most part. The Sharks did get into some penalty trouble in this game, and Vegas made them pay early on in this game via Max Pacioretty's 14th of the season. The only other goal that Vegas needed to stay on top of this one was Mark Stone's tenth of the season early in the third. However, later in the third, Timo Meier finally got one past Fleury in brilliant fashion to avoid getting shut out of this one, with Brent Burns getting the only assist on the Sharks' lone goal of the game.
Another significant factor in this game that was detrimental to the Sharks were missed calls by the officials, including a missed interference by Max Pacioretty in the first and embellishment by Jonathan Marchessault that the refs somehow didn't notice. This was at least the third game this season that the officials seemingly favored the Sharks' opponents when making calls. The officials didn't call a penalty against the Golden Knights until 25 seconds remaining in the game, which was ridiculous. In addition, Tomas Hertl had a few heated altercations with the officials at the end of the second period.
Other than Dubnyk starting in net, the only major change to the Sharks' lineup was Rudolfs Balcers' return after not playing in their previous miniseries in Anaheim.
In all, the result was disappointing, but it could've been worse. The reality is that the Golden Knights are one of the top teams in the entire NHL with very few flaws. On the other hand, the Sharks are still performing fairly well as of late and should continue to improve from here. The second game in this current miniseries in Vegas is on Wednesday at 7 pm PT, with Devan Dubnyk hopefully starting in net.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL app
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