Short-handed goal wins division for Vegas
LAS VEGAS — William Karlsson scored a short-handed goal in the third period to give the expansion Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Sharks on Saturday night that clinched the Pacific Division title for the first-year team.
Playing in front of a crowd of 18,458, the largest of its inaugural season, Vegas reached 50 wins with its third victory in four games. San Jose is second in the Pacific, four points ahead of Los Angeles.
Shea Theodore and Oscar Lindberg also scored for the Golden Knights, and MarcAndre Fleury stopped 29 shots. Fleury moved into sole possession of 11th place on the career wins list with No. 404.
San Jose goaltender Martin Jones made 35 saves. The Sharks had allowed fewer than 30 shots in eight of their previous 15 games.
The Sharks have the league’s second-best penalty kill, and they denied Vegas’ four powerplay opportunities. They haven’t allowed a power-play goal in 16 of their past 18 contests.
Joe Pavelski and MarcEdouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks.
The Sharks, who went 10-4-1 in March, will have to wait until Tuesday to try to clinch a playoff berth for the 13th time in 14 years.
Vegas struck early in the first period. Theodore took a pass from Karlsson at the point and fired a wrist shot past Jones at 2:21.
Pavelski tied it when he fired a rebound into an open net at 7:14 while Fleury was recovering from making a save at the other side of the goal.
Lindberg got the lead back for Vegas when he redirected Theodore’s shot from the point past Jones 3:03 into the second. But Vlasic tied it midway through the period when he backhanded home a rebound that came off Vegas defender Brayden McNabb’s knee.
For the second straight night, Karlsson scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway, this time with what might have been his sweetest of 42 goals this season — between his legs to beat Jones top shelf.
The evening began with a pregame ceremony in which the Golden Knights retired No. 58 in honor of the victims of the