The San Jose Sharks finished the preseason the way they wanted to Saturday night, scoring three straight goals late in the third period to earn a 6-5 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
With the Sharks trailing by two, Luke Kunin scored goals at the 17:00 and 18:18 marks of the third period before Ethan Cardwell scored with 12 seconds left to give San Jose the lead.
The Sharks allowed third-period goals to Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev, who had a hat trick, to fall behind 5-3.
Danil Gushchin finished with a remarkable five assists.
Less than three minutes after Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro scored at the 35-second mark of the third period to tie the game 3-3, Stone, on a Golden Knights power play, tipped a Shea Theodore shot past goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to give his team the lead.
Dorofeyev then completed the hat trick at the 8:46 mark of the third off a pass from former Shark Tomas Hertl, who finished with three assists.
Winger Klim Kostin and defenseman Jimmy Schuldt also scored for the Sharks, who finished the preseason with a 2-3-1 record. San Jose opens the regular season on Thursday at home against the St. Louis Blues.
Gushchin also assisted on Kunin’s goal at the 17:00 mark of third period when the Sharks pulled Blackwood for the extra attacker
Blackwood finished with 31 saves, including 11 in the first period.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.
GUSH PUSH?: Who will finish as the Sharks’ leading scorer in the preseason? Danil Gushchin.
Will it help him earn a spot on the Sharks’ 23-man roster? Perhaps not.
Gushchin assisted on Kostin and Ferraro’s goals and finished the preseason with nine points in four games. His overall game has grown, and his confidence level is as high as ever.
But it appears to be a numbers game right now for Gushchin, as the Sharks already have Macklin Celebrini, Tyler Toffoli, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Will Smith, Fabian Zetterlund, Luke Kunin, Alexander Wennberg, Ty Dellandrea and Kostin as top nine possibilities. That doesn’t include Barclay Goodrow, Nico Sturm, Givani Smith and Carl Gundstrom as other depth options.
Perhaps, though, Gushchin has put himself at the front of the line when it comes to being the first player recalled from the Barracuda when there’s an injury.
Defenseman Luca Cagnoni also had an eye-opening camp for the Sharks with four points in four games. But with Shakir Mukhamadullin perhaps nearing a return, the best place for the 19-year-old Cagnoni right now is the American League.
GOOD KLIM, BAD KLIM: The Sharks have experienced the ying and yang of the hulking Kostin throughout the preseason, and that was the case again Saturday.
In one sequence in the first period after the Sharks broke into the Golden Knights’ zone, Kostin took a pass from linemate Danil Gushchin and fired a shot past goalie Adin Hill at the 9:03 mark. The goal was Kostin’s third of the preseason, tops among all Sharks players, and he gave the much smaller Gushchin a big hug after the goal.
But at the 16:57 mark of the first, Kostin took a lazy holding penalty in the Sharks zone as he wrapped his arms around Jack Eichel.
Vegas didn’t score on its power play, which was cut short when Hill was called for playing the puck outside the restricted area.
It doesn’t appear as if Kostin is in any danger of losing his spot on the team and being placed on waivers before the Sharks need to finalize their roster on Monday morning. Nevertheless, Kostin needs to become more consistent from one shift to the next, and one game to the next, if he wants to stay in the lineup.
IT’S STILL WEIRD: The Sharks and their fans might still be getting used to seeing Tomas Hertl in a Golden Knights uniform. But the things Hertl excels at – winning faceoffs and wall battles and holding onto pucks – remain all too familiar.
Hertl, who spent the first 10-plus seasons of his NHL career with San Jose before he was traded to the Golden Knights in March, was playing his first game against his former team Saturday. He assisted on a Pavel Dorofeyev first period goal and had won seven of nine faceoffs through 40 minutes.
The Sharks are obviously happy with the centermen they’ve brought in this offseason, including Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Alexander Wennberg and Barclay Goodrow.
But it might be a while before they have a center who possesses all of the qualities Hertl has, and will bring to the Golden Knights over the next few years. Maybe Filip Bystedt, similarly built at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, can develop into something close.
