Sharks end Golden Knights' winning streak at seven

The Vegas Golden Knights had their seven-game winning streak end with a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Tomas Nosek and Jon Merrill scored for Vegas (27-16-4), which had a 10-game point streak. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves.
"I liked our game," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "We played good hockey, we had lots of opportunities and they got a couple of breaks. They worked hard, they played a good, structured game. They got three, we got two, but I thought we battled hard and played pretty well.
"We made a couple of mistakes and it cost us goals, but overall, I thought we played a pretty good game."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Melker Karlsson and Joonas Donskoi scored 39 seconds apart in the third period, and Martin Jones made 36 saves for San Jose (26-13-7), which has won five in a row.
It was the 1,000th regular-season victory in Sharks history.
"It's great," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "Obviously working for the Sharks, the franchise and the area, but particularly for me it's a testament to the fans. They were Vegas and this environment before Vegas was this environment. It's a great place to work and it's a great place for our guys to play hockey."

Karlsson tied it 2-2 at 7:24 off Brent Burns' rebound near the right post. Donskoi gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 8:03 when he redirected Hertl's shot from the slot.
"They're both dirty goals in that you are going to the net and there's bodies there and a lot of traffic," DeBoer said. "They're not pretty goals and we knew we were going to have to score that way on [Fleury]. He's always good against us. We did what we had to do to get two big points."
Nosek gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 1:34 of the first period on a rebound of Ryan Reaves' shot from the right face-off circle.
Tomas Hertl tied it 1-1 at 14:05 of the second period when he gained control of the puck near center ice, skated into the Golden Knights zone and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Merrill's first goal of the season gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead 2:16 into the third period when he took a pass from Brandon Pirri and scored on a wrist shot from beyond the face-off circles.
"It's unfortunate to lose that one there," Merrill said. "I thought we had a strong effort, but it's all right. We'll get back to the drawing board and start over a new streak in Chicago on Saturday."

They said it

"We just stuck with it. That's the team that always tends to jump out and use the crowd to their advantage. They always come out to good starts. We just stuck with it; we didn't panic. Obviously, with the early goal, we just kept getting pucks out and pucks in. It was a good gutsy road win." -- Sharks goalie Martin Jones
"It was fun. The crowd was awesome, it was loud. It's such a good rivalry with this team. We're so close in the standings, so these points mean a lot. That's why it's so frustrating to miss out on that." -- Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury

Need to know

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson had his 14-game point streak end (he missed two games because of a suspension). … Hertl has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in his past 18 games. … Donskoi has eight goals in his past seven games. … Five of Melker Karlsson's seven goals have been scored in the third period. … Vegas' 12-game point streak at home ended (10-0-2). … Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games (two goals, seven assists).

What's next

Sharks: Host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN1, TVAS, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, WGN, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)