LAS VEGAS _ The San Jose Sharks allowed two goals in the first 5:21 of the opening period and never fully recovered in a 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday in the season-opening game for both teams.
Playing without both Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson, the Sharks gave up a power-play goal to Mark Stone at 3:46 mark of the first period and an even-strength marker to Reilly Smith just 1:35 later. The Golden Knights scored twice on their first three shots.
Goalie Martin Jones settled down after that point and finished with 10 saves in the first period to keep the Sharks within striking distance.
Sharks winger Marcus Sorensen cut Vegas' lead to one with a goal at the 12:14 mark of the first period, but center Cody Glass restored the Golden Knights' two-goal lead with an even-strength goal just 2:12 into the second period.
Jones finished with 31 saves, but the Sharks managed just 22 shots on Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
The two teams play again Friday at SAP Center in the Sharks' home opener.
Kane was suspended for three games Tuesday for abuse of officials, an incident that occurred two days earlier when the Sharks played the Golden Knights in their final preseason game.
The Sharks announced Karlsson would miss Wednesday's game to attend to a personal matter roughly 45 minutes before the start of the first period.
Without Karlsson, the Sharks inserted Tim Heed into the lineup. Heed began the game with rookie Mario Ferraro, one of three Sharks players making their NHL debuts. Forwards Danil Yurtaykin and Lean Bergmann were also playing in their first NHL games.
Early in the third period, Timo Meier left the game with an unknown ailment. Meier appeared to clutch his hand or his midsection on the bench just as Smith gave the Golden Knights a 4-1 lead with a shorthanded goal at the 4:01 mark of the third period. Kevin Labanc also left the game in the third period after he took a stick to the face from Vegas forward Tomas Nosek.
