Vegas Spoils Opening Night: Golden Knights Beat Sharks 4-1

The San Jose Sharks fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 in their first game of the season.

The San Jose Sharks (0-1-0) fell 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights (2-0-0) on Thursday night. 

Michael Amadio, Nicolas Gague, and Nicolas Roy all scored their first goals of the season. Logan Thompson made 22 saves in his first start of the season. 

Filip Zadina scored his first career goal for the San Jose Sharks. Kaapo Kahkonen made 27 saves in his first start this season.

San Jose came out slow but weathered the storm after the first period. The Golden Knights capitalized on offensive zone pressure and a neutral zone turnover for their late second-period tallies. 

Vegas had continuous offensive zone pressure throughout the game. The Sharks gave all five players of the Knights way too much time in the offensive zone. 

The Golden Knights looked like a team that had just won the Stanley Cup.

"Listen, they are the defending Stanley Cup champions," Sharks head coach David Quinn said. "They've got a ton of swagger. There's a lot of conviction in what they do. It's not really a feeling out process with them, but you know, we're still coming together as a team."

Mikael Granlund did not play the last 13 minutes of the third period. Quinn confirmed postgame that he re-aggravated the injury that he dealt with during training camp.

"He did. It's a long season, no need to put him in harm's way," Quinn said.

3:21: Kyle Burroughs gets into a fight in his first game as a member of the San Jose Sharks.

"He's exactly what we thought we were getting," Quinn said about Burroughs. "A hard-nosed guy who can move, who makes solid passes. He's a hell of a teammate."

15:25: Michael Amadio finishes off a great pass from William Karlsson. Vegas had killed a penalty and used the momentum to create offense against. 1-0 Vegas.

17:48: Filip Zadina fires home a spinning wrist shot from the slot to tie the game at one. Henry Thrun and Tomas Hertl assist on the play. 1-1.

San Jose came out with a lot of energy but never gained much offensive pressure. Vegas' top line of Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault put immense pressure every time they touched the ice. 

18:31: Nicolas Hague powers a one-timer past Kahkonen. The top line of the Golden Knights once again created sustained pressure in the offensive zone. 2-1 Vegas.

19:24: Nicolas Roy goes down the right wing and fires a quick shot over the shoulder of Kahkonen. 3-1 Vegas 

San Jose did a good job creating even play in the second, but two late goals by the Golden Knights killed any momentum the Sharks had built. 

"I thought that really deflated us," Quinn said. "I thought we played a good period for 18 minutes. They had two scoring chances in the second period up to that point, and it just really deflated us."

2:11: Brayden Pachal scores his first NHL goal on a shot from the high slot. San Jose can't handle the offensive zone pressure of Vegas. 4-1

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