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The Sharks had the same dreadful start Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights as they did two days ago. The end result was all too familiar for the Sharks as well.
The Sharks fell behind by two goals in the first 12-plus minutes of the first period and never totally recovered as the Golden Knights earned a physical and often nasty 6-3 win in Game 3 at T-Mobile Arena to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Continuing a series-long theme, the Sharks had no answer for the Golden Knights’ line of Paul Stastny, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, as Stone had a hat-trick and two assists, Stastny scored twice and had three assists and Pacioretty added one goal and one assist.
Stone, Pacioretty and Stastny now have has 22 points in the first three games of the series. Stone has six goals.
“They’ve eaten us up in this series here so far. We haven’t had an answer for them,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “What did they do well? You’ve got three very good players that are playing at a really high level right now. That is part of the issue. We’ve got to find an answer to slow those guys down.”
Sharks goalie Martin Jones stopped 34 of 40 shots, including 18 of 20 in the first period when he and the Sharks were under siege. Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves.
“I think he made a lot of saves tonight,” Sharks center Logan Couture said of Jones. “You look at that game, there are power play chances, there are chances in the slot. He made a lot of big saves. They could have had eight tonight.
The Sharks once again never led, as Stone scored just 16 seconds into the first period and Pacioretty added another goal at the 12:16 mark. It was the ninth time in 17 meetings between the Sharks and Golden Knights, including playoffs, that Vegas has taken a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes of regulation time.
“Tonight, 30 seconds into each period we gave up a goal,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know. You’ve got your best players on the ice starting each period, that’s on that group to make sure we’re ready and we don’t give that up.
“It’s not like it’s a mismatch because of line changes. It’s best against best and you’ve got to get it done.”
Kevin Labanc scored in the first period for the Sharks to cut the Vegas lead to 2-1, but Stastny scored 21 seconds into the second period to restore the Golden Knights’ two-goal lead. Stastny scored again at the 16:04 mark of the second and Stone scored 36 seconds into the third, giving Vegas a 5-1 lead.
Logan Couture and Timo Meier scored at the 4:57 and 5:51 mark of the third period, respectively, but the Sharks could get no closer. Stone sealed the win and capped the scoring with an even strength goal at the 13:57 mark of the third period.
“The one thing about our group is they don’t quit and they haven’t all year, and they haven’t regardless of the scoreboard,” DeBoer said. “That’s something we can hang our hat on but, we didn’t do enough to win today. We weren’t good enough across the board to win tonight.”
The Golden Knights converted on 2 of 6 power play opportunities.
Joe Thornton took the third of four minor penalties the Sharks were assessed in the second period. Thornton was called for an illegal check to the head of Golden Knights winger Tomas Nosek, an infraction that could result in supplemental discipline from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
“I honestly thought I barely touched him,” Thornton said of the play. “He came right back. It was just one of those plays, it is what it is. I think my son hits me like that six times a day. Just a weird position he put himself in, that’s all.”
Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant had a different perspective.
The Department of Player safety will “look at it for sure. There’s no doubt,” Gallant said. “Definitely a high hit to the head. They’ll look at it. We’ll see what happens.”
The Sharks suffered an injury for the second straight game. Already missing defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was hurt in Game 2, the Sharks lost forward Micheal Haley, who blocked a Shea Theodore shot at the 2:23 mark of the second period and did not return.
Vlasic was hurt blocking a Theodore shot early in the second period of Game 2.
