LDN - Sports

Knights smash Sharks 7-0 in opener

[April 27, 2018] Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and two assists, and William Karlsson and Reilly Smith each added three assists as the expansion Vegas Golden Knights crushed the San Jose Sharks 7-0 in the first game of the NHL Western Conference semifinals on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Marc-Andre Fleury recorded 33 saves for the Golden Knights, who improved to 32-10-2 at T-Mobile Arena and are a perfect 5-0 in their young playoff history. It was the 13th career playoff shutout for Fleury, including three in five games this season.

James Neal, Colin Miller, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore also had goals for Vegas, which scored on its first three shots en route to a 4-0 lead in the first 11:43 of the game.

Haula, Neal and Tuch each had an assist, and David Perron notched two assists.

San Jose's Martin Jones made just eight saves while allowing five goals before giving way to Aaron Dell early in the second period. Dell stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced in his first NHL playoff appearance.

Jones, who allowed just four goals and had a .970 save percentage in San Jose's first-round sweep of the Anaheim Ducks, gave up four goals in the span of 7:12 seconds early in the first period. The Golden Knights, playing for the first time in nine days after sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, showed no rust from the long layoff.

Eakin started the onslaught at the 4:31 mark when he deflected a Brayden McNabb shot from the high slot into the right corner of the net. Haula followed 26 seconds later with his second goal of the playoffs, firing a wrist shot from the right circle off a drop pass from Tuch.

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Marchessault made it three goals in 91 seconds for Vegas when he scored his first career playoff goal, beating Jones with a wrist shot on the short side from the left circle following another San Jose turnover in the neutral zone.

Tuch scored the fourth goal on seven shots for the Golden Knights when he blew through four Sharks bunched together near the blue line and then beat Jones with a wrist shot to his stick side for a power-play goal at 11:43.

Theodore made it 5-0 just 3:28 into the second period when he redirected a Smith crossing pass past Jones' glove side and into the top right corner of the net. San Jose coach Peter DeBoer then yanked Jones for Dell.

Miller and Neal then took advantage of a five-minute major on Evander Kane in the third period for high-sticking Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the face during a scrum in front of the net after San Jose's Joe Pavelski had already been whistled for slashing Nate Schmidt. Miller rifled in a shot from the high slot at 4:32 to capitalize on a five-on-three power play, and Neal added a wraparound goal from the right side of the net 3 1/2 minutes later for his 27th career playoff goal.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

--Field Level Media

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