All the goodwill that occurred between the Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights on the night Patrick Marleau became the NHL’s all-time leader in games played went out the window in the rematch between the two teams Wednesday.
Things were back to normal as the Sharks and Golden Knights were involved in a handful of after-the-whistle activities, just like other games over the past four seasons.
The ending had a familiar feeling, too, as the Sharks had some positive moments and made a big push in the third period but once again couldn’t overcome penalties and other miscues in a 5-2 loss at T-Mobile Arena.
With the Sharks leading 2-1 on goals by Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone scored a power-play goal at the 12:52 mark of the second period to tie the game and Alex Tuch scored the go-ahead goal 8:18 later.
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, including an insurance goal with 6:42 left in regulation time as Vegas handed the Sharks their sixth straight loss and clinched a playoff spot by virtue of picking up at least one point.
The Sharks (18-23-5) remained four points back of the Arizona Coyotes for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. San Jose now has 10 games left to play.
Goalie Josef Korenar was the biggest reason why the game stayed close. In his second NHL start, Korenar stopped 26 of 29 shots through two periods, giving his team a chance to beat the Golden Knights for the first time this season. Korenar finished with 35 saves.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves through two periods, as the Sharks fell to 0-5-2 against the Golden Knights this season.
The last game this season between the two teams is May 12. Fleury, who finished with 31 saves, is 5-0-0 against the Sharks this season. He came into Wednesday’s game with a .943 save percentage in his four previous starts this year.
Marleau played in his 1,768th career NHL game Monday in what became a 3-2 shootout loss to the Golden Knights. Vegas players all lined up to shake Marleau’s hand after the game and had nothing but complimentary things to say about the Sharks icon and his accomplishment after the game.
Those pleasantries disappeared in a hurry Wednesday, as Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty got involved in a fracas in the first period that led to cross-checking penalties for both players.
A few seconds after both players came out of the penalty box, Burns came up on Pacioretty to deliver another hit after the whistle.
Korenar got the start Wednesday after Martin Jones had started three of the Sharks’ four previous games. Two of those losses came to Minnesota last week and one was to Vegas on Monday when he stopped 38 of 40 shots through regulation and overtime in what became a 3-2 shootout win for the Golden Knights.
The Sharks’ next game is Saturday at home against Minnesota, starting a stretch in which they’ll play every other day for two weeks. Sharks coach Bob Boughner felt this was a good opportunity to get Korenar his second NHL start.
“If you look at our schedule moving forward, playing the Minnesotas and the Arizonas of the world, and we have another back-to-back next weekend, it’s just an opportunity to see him and give him a start,” Boughner said.
“We said we wanted to put him in some games, give him a road start. It’s going to be a good test for our whole team and for Josef himself.”
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