Zach Whitecloud, Victor Olofsson and Tomas Hertl scored for the Golden Knights (28-9-3), who have won three straight and nine of 10. Ilya Samsonov made 20 saves.
“I thought we did a pretty good job 5-on-5 most of the night,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “All in all, I felt comfortable the whole night. I thought everyone was engaged in the game and playing the right way.”
Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel (9) moves in on goalie Alexandar Georgiev as Mikael Granlund (64) defends – Photo by Jack Lima
William Eklund had a goal and an assist, and Timothy Liljegren scored for the Sharks (13-24-6), who had won their previous two games. Alexandar Georgiev made 38 saves.
“[We have to] be ready to start from puck drop,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “[Our] puck play was soft. We didn’t execute. We were soft to play against. [In] front of our net, just not physical enough.”
Mark Stone’s shot hits the back of the net, beating goalie Alexandar Georgiev, to give Vegas an early 1-0 lead – Photo by Jack Lima
Stone put the Golden Knights ahead 1-0 at 8:39 of the first period. Shea Theodore sent a pass from the defensive zone to the Sharks’ blue line, where Stone tipped it around Cody Ceci before skating in and beating Georgiev five-hole on a breakaway.
“I think we’ve been finding ways to score, we’ve been playing the right way,” Theodore said. “It starts in the D-zone, and I feel like when that happens, more times than not, we are going to be on the good end of it.”
Sharks center Macklin Celebrini gets set for a faceoff – Photo by Jack Lima
Whitecloud made it 2-0 at 10:08. Brett Howden fed Whitecloud in the middle of the ice, and he fought off a backcheck from Macklin Celebrini and beat Georgiev five-hole again with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Eklund scored a power-play goal to cut it to 2-1 at 9:49 of the second period. Collin Graf sent a pass from along the goal line to Eklund, who buried a one-timer over Samsonov’s glove from the left hash marks.
Sharks defenseman Cody Ceci (4) and Golden Knights forward Mark Stone (61) fight for the puck in front of goalie Alexandar Georgiev – Photo by Jack Lima
Olofsson pushed it to 3-1 with his own power-play goal at 1:10 of the third period. He scored with a one-timer from the right face-off dot off a backhand saucer pass through the slot from Jack Eichel.
Liljegren got the Sharks to within 3-2 at 10:41 with another power-play goal. After taking a pass at the point from Eklund, Liljegren glided to the top of the left circle and roofed a wrist shot over the blocker of Samsonov.
Sharks forward Fabian Zetterlund looks to take a shot on goal – Photo by Jack Lima
“We scored two goals on the power play today, which we needed to produce. It hasn’t been good enough,” Liljegren said. “So, it was good getting goals from that today.”
Hertl made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal at 18:40 after Stone poked the puck away from Celebrini.
Sharks forward Mikael Granlund looks to make a pass – Photo by Jack Lima
NOTES: The Golden Knights are 14-0-3 all-time on the road against San Jose. They are the second franchise in NHL history to earn a point in each of their first 17 road games against an opponent, joining the Montreal Canadiens, who did it against the Vancouver Canucks (21 games) and Washington Capitals (17 games). … Vegas’ road point streak against San Jose is also tied for the fifth longest in NHL history.
Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev prepares to stop a shot – Photo by Jack Lima
Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev blocks a shot attempt by Shea Theodore (27) – Photo by Jack Lima