Last night, the San Jose Sharks took on the Vegas Golden Knights in just their second preseason game. Despite the young players putting forth a good effort, the Sharks lost 2-1.
The Sharks started Yaroslav Askarov, who played very well in the game. He was given the full game and allowed two goals on 29 shots, stopping 27 for a .931 save percentage on the night.
Along with the youngster in net, San Jose elected to go with young players up front. While they held their own and even had the lead at one point, they just fell short in the third and weren’t able to come up with another goal.
Newcomer Dmitry Orlov found the back of the net for the club with his first unofficial goal as a member of the Sharks. That came at 4:48 in the second period after a scoreless first. Alexander Wennberg and Ethan Cardwell picked up the assists on the goal.
Cole Schwindt scored for Vegas just under four minutes after Orlov’s marker, which brought the game to a 1-1 tie. Fast forward to the third period, Lukas Cormier netted a power-play goal to give the Golden Knights the lead.
The Sharks had just under 15 minutes to score another, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to. They did show some grit and physicality near the end of the third period. Carson Wetsch and Vegas’ Joe Fleming were given double minors for roughing. Fleming was also called for a trip on Ty Dellandrea and handed a game misconduct all on the same play.
The game ended with the Sharks falling 2-1 to the Golden Knights in their second preseason game against each other. Askarov was hands down the best player for San Jose. His performance earned him third star of the game, but it was the saves he made that stood out.
He battled, limited rebounds, and even made a few post-to-post stops, including one just before the Golden Knights scored their second goal. The hope is that he can carry that momentum forward into the regular season. He is set to be the starting goalie, and if he can play at that level, it could allow the Sharks to stay in more games than last season.
San Jose is next in action on Monday, Sept. 29 against the Anaheim Ducks. They’ll face them in a home-and-home before taking on the Golden Knights for a third time in preseason.
