Sharks lose to Vegas in another OT thriller

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks did everything they could to send Game 3 of their second round playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights to overtime. They just couldn’t find the finishing touch.

William Karlsson scored with 11:43 left in the first overtime, his fourth goal of the playoffs, as the Golden Knights picked up a 4-3 win at SAP Center to take a 2-1 lead in the bestof-seven series.

The Sharks killed minor penalties in the first six minutes of overtime before Karlsson’s even strength goal.

Sharks forwards Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane both scored in the third period just to send Game 3 to overtime.

Down by two goals in the third period, Kane fired a wrist shot from right next to the faceoff dot high glove side past Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 3-2 with 12:11 left in regulation.

Hertl then tied the game with 1:57 left in regulation time on a goal-mouth scramble, firing the puck past Fleury from just outside the crease after Justin Braun pushed it toward the net.

It was a remarkable comeback considering how oppor-

tunistic the Golden Knights were in the second period to build a 3-1 lead.

The Sharks allowed two power play goals, and an even strength insurance marker to Reilly Smith — all in a span of 4:46 — to take a two-goal lead by the 14:26 mark of the second.

After Meier scored a power play goal at the 6:59 mark of the second period off a pretty assist from Chris Tierney, the Golden Knights got power play goals from Colin Miller and Jonathan Marchessault to take a 2-1 lead at the 13:09 mark. Smith then capped the period for Vegas with his first goal of the postseason, taking a pass from Karlsson and scoring from in close with no Sharks player around to defend.

Game 4 is Wednesday back at SAP Center.

Fleury, who came into Monday sporting a .967 save percentage, made 31 saves in the first two periods, with nine coming on the penalty kill.

The Sharks beat Fleury and the Golden Knights 4-3 in double overtime in Game 2 on Saturday in Las Vegas.

“We’ll get a pushback obviously, they weren’t happy with

their game (Saturday) and I’m sure we’ll get a response from them,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said Monday morning. “I would hope we bring some level of intensity, so it should be a great game.”

Joonas Donskoi sat out the game with a lower body injury, and it remains unclear when he might be able to return. Donskoi played limited minutes in the first two games when he was held without a point. Against Anaheim in the first round, Donskoi, used mainly as a top line winger, has a goal and two assists.