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SAN JOSE » The Sharks were beaten to the punch Wednesday night, and they know it.

Five minutes and 21 seconds into the season opener against the rival Vegas Golden Knights, they trailed 2- 0.

A penalty and two turnovers led to two goals, and T-Mobile Arena was rocking. The Sharks were able to claw a goal back, but they never got back even with Vegas after that start, falling 4-1.

“For both those first two goals, when you turn the puck over, you’re going to have it stuck in the back of your net nine times out of 10,” defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “Especially for Vegas — that’s what they feed off of, that’s what they live off of.”

At that point, the Vegas crowd was amped up (especially after watching a puck drop from nearly 18 miles above the earth for whatever reason). For the visiting team, that can spell doom. And while the Sharks were able to get back within one in the first period, it ultimately did.

With the Sharks opening their home building tonight, they are hoping to put that kind of pressure on the Golden Knights.

“Obviously they had their home opener yesterday, so you could tell they had excitement and a big jump,” forward Timo Meier said Thursday after practice. “I think we’re going to have that extra step tomorrow, we’re going to do some things better that we didn’t do last night. It’s going to be exciting.”

As for the turnovers that got the Vegas players and crowd juiced, Marc- Edouard Vlasic, who was involved in both early breakdowns, said simple decision-making is the key.

“You make the play if it’s there. If not, try not to turn it over,” he said. “But it’s impossible to go all game without turning the puck over. You just got to minimize the amount.”

Coach Pete DeBoer said he thought his team stabilized well after that initial Vegas rush, calling the first period the Sharks’ best. He noted that Vegas has a history of jumping on the Sharks early at home, including Games 3 and 4 of last season’s playoff battle, when the Golden Knights scored within the game’s first minute and a half.

He said his team must be ready to go immediately at puck drop tonight to amplify the advantage of playing in the Shark Tank, and to slow Vegas down.

“We want to make sure we get out and understand that they’re a fast-starting team. We don’t want to get into a hole early against them,” DeBoer said. “At home here, for us, that’s playing on our toes and using the great crowd we have to our advantage.”

• The Sharks will have Meier and Kevin Labanc back to help. Both skated Thursday at practice after leaving the opener with apparent injuries.