Alec Martinez scored two goals while Adin Hill recorded a shutout to help the Vegas Golden Knights (12-2-1) take down the San Jose Sharks (2-11-1) in a 5-0 contest on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
The Golden Knights opened the scoring just one minute into the first period as Alex Pietrangelo wrapped his way around the net, beating Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen blocker side. Grabbing the 2-0 lead at 10:19, Alec Martinez blasted a shot from the point that found its way through traffic past Kahkoken shortside. The second period passed with no tallies on either side to see the Golden Knights head into the third up by two. Vegas' third shorthanded goal of the season and third tally of the game came 2:24 into the final frame as Jack Eichel slipped by a San Jose defender on the wall before making the cross-ice pass to William Karlsson who put it top-shelf behind the goalie. A defensive breakdown by the Sharks led to Martinez scoring his second of the game just 2:17 later going shortside, bardown over the shoulder of the netminder from the left circle. At 9:34 of the third, Brett Howden found his way on to the scoresheet as he forced a turnover on the wall before catching a rebound off of Kahkonen's pad and burying the puck in the net. Vegas held the Sharks off the board to skate to the 5-0 win.
TOP PERFORMERS
Alex Pietrangelo: Pietrangelo posted three points (1G, 2A) to help the Golden Knights to the victory.
Alec Martinez: Martinez scored his second and third goals of the 2023-24 season in the third two-goal game of his career.
Adin Hill: Hill stopped all 20 shots on net for the seventh shutout of his career.
Michael Amadio: Amadio tallied two assists in the first period for his second multi-point game this season and 15th of his career.
VGK STATS OF THE KNIGHT
The Golden Knights shut out the Sharks to improve to 12-2-1 (25 points) and maintain their top spot in the Pacific Division. Since entering the league in 2017-18, Vegas has been in first place in their division form almost half the time (45%) - that percentage is the highest among all teams during that span.
The Golden Knights (12-2-1) became the first team to record at least 12 wins through 15 games in consecutive seasons (13-2-0) in 2022-23) since the Montreal Canadiens from 2015-16 to 2016-17.
Alex Pietrangelo became the 19th Golden Knight to score this season with his goal in the first period. Vegas has the most goal scorers of any team in the league.
Brett Howden scored to put Vegas up 5-0. The Golden Knights have now scored 58 goals this season, which is the second most behind the Canucks (59).
ATTENDANCE: 18,423
BECAUSE VGK WON...
When the Golden Knights win, you win! Get 31% off menu priced pizzas at Pizza Hut the day after every win using code VGKWINS on PizzaHut.com.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Vegas Golden Knights head out on a five-game road trip begining in Washington D.C. as they take on the Capitals on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT at Capital One Arena. Catch the game on Vegas 34, KnightTime+ and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.
