A 4-goal third leads the Vegas Golden Knights to a 6-3 win in San Jose

Back-to-back shorthanded goals by Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel sparked a four-goal third-period rally that led the Vegas Golden Knights' win streak to five and nine wins out of their last 10 games, with a 6-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. The win also makes the Golden Knights the second team in the West after Winnipeg to break the 50-point mark. Six different players scored for Vegas for the second time in almost a week (the 6-2 win against the Kraken on December 21st being the first).

Shakir Mukhamadullin, Will Smith, and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Sharks who lost their sixth straight. Albeit one that looked much, much closer than that final score line entailed, especially in the first period.

After the lovely tribute and requisite highlight package for former Shark Tomas Hertl before the game started, the pace and momentum were fairly evenly split through the first half of the first period; a product (at least in part) of Vegas' post-Christmas rust, at least offensively. Defensively, they seemed as tight and efficient as they've been throughout this winning streak. This made it only fitting that Noah Hanifin opened the scoring on a sweet wrister from a Victor Olofsson feed.

The shots quickly piled up for Vegas (five of the game's next six shots after that Hanifin goal), and a sense of rock-solid control settled into the period. One that Alexander Georgiev kept from going wild with a solid performance after his ugly performance the first time he faced Vegas on opening night. Then Shakir Mukhamadullin scored his first career NHL goal near the end of the period deflected off Adin Hill's skate and floated upward into the net. In short, a Marge Simpson groan in goal form.

The momentum shifted on the penalty kill

You could see San Jose rise as a team after that goal going from the end of the first into the second period. Mark Stone seemed to quelch it before it could become dangerous with a nice hammer-and-chisel goal off an Alexander Georgiev rebound.

Then Will Smith scored 2:26 later from a begrudgingly brilliant sequence by Macklin Celebrini to tie it, and Tyler Toffoli scored off another weird skate deflection from Hill and Nicolas Hague to give the Sharks the lead. For the first time since the Minnesota Wild game, there was a palpable nervousness over how this game might turn out.

Then Alexander Holtz gets called for tripping in the third period, killing off the pittance of the power play remaining from Mario Ferraro's high sticking late in the second. In a game with flashes of good fortune (including a couple of near misses by the Sharks sprinkled through the second and third periods), this happened...

After that (the first two-shorthanded goal game since 11/4/2023 against the Avalanche), the nerves were gone and things in the third period looked like most of the first: a lot of shots and a lot of great defense that defanged the Sharks offensively. Pavel Dorofeyev got his first goal in 12 games, and Brett Howden scored an empty netter to ice it. This was followed by a scrum between Barclay Goodrow and Nicolas Hague that had a 2019 vibe: Fitting for a night commemorating Number 48.

Next on the Marquee:

We head back to the Fortress on Sunday evening to welcome in another division rival, the Calgary Flames. It'll be the last time we see the Flames in Vegas until April 5th of the new year. They'll be coming off a back-to-back with these same San Jose Sharks Saturday night. So there's a chance to keep the good vibes train chugging along. Though given the likes of Nazem Kadri, Connor Zary, and Jonathan Huberdeau upfront, much like tonight, it could turn into an interesting and nervy affair quite quickly.