her 20 good minutes and fou

[panxing18]

William Karlsson and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights proved they can handle some adversity just as well as they can thrive as front-runners like they did most of their inaugural season.

The Golden Knights bounced back after allowing a late tying goal in regulation when Karlsson scored 8:17 into overtime to lead Vegas to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night and a 2-1 series lead.

”I think it’s good for the morale ,” Karlsson said. ”We showed great attitude. Again, they came back. It was tough, too, but we gave someone a chance to be an overtime hero.”

Karlsson was that hero – just as he has been so much this season. He scored 43 goals in the regular season and has added three more this series, but none was bigger than the wrist shot in transition that beat Martin Jones high to the stick side, sending the Golden Knights into a wild celebration around the player knows as Wild Bill.

It was an impressive bounce back from their first loss of the playoffs in double overtime at home in Game 2 and wouldn’t have been possible without Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 39 saves to hold off an early push by the Sharks and then robbed Logan Couture with a glove save in overtime.

”I was looking at the guy with puck. I just tried to follow the pass and get out there a bit and I had a little time to react on it,” Fleury said. ”It was a good feeling.”

The Sharks rallied to tie the game and force a second straight overtime with two goals in the third period. Evander Kane scored just seconds after the end of a power play midway through the third to set the stage for Hertl.

Hertl drove to the net with a strong power move. With the Sharks swarming in front of Fleury, Hertl whacked at a loose puck and knocked it in for the equalizer with 1:57 to go, sending the towel-waving crowd into a frenzy.

”I believe our game’s there and I think everyone in here would tell you that ,” captain Joe Pavelski said. ”We got caught on the wrong end of it tonight. We had a big one the other night.”

Colin Miller, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith scored in a span of less than five minutes in the second period to put the Golden Knights in control, but they couldn’t hold onto the lead.

Timo Meier opened the scoring with a power-play goal for the Sharks, but undisciplined play in the second period helped erase that lead and put San Jose in a hole.

Brenden Dillon held David Perron to give Vegas a power play less than a minute after Meier’s one-timer off a perfect cross-ice pass from Chris Tierney gave the Sharks the lead.

San Jose had an 11-1 edge in shots on goal in the period at that point as the Sharks were controlling the play. But that quickly turned as James Neal held the puck below the goal line and fed Miller with a pass that Marc-Edouard Vlasic nearly broke up for a tap-in that tied the game.

About three minutes later, Hertl was called for roughing Neal well behind the play, giving the Golden Knights another chance with the man advantage.

They converted again when Marchessault one-timed a cross-ice pass from Alex Tuch past Jones to give Vegas the lead.

Smith then capped the three goals in 4:46 when Marchessault fed Karlsson, who was left alone at the side of the net. He deftly sent a blind, backhand pass through the crease to Smith, who tapped it in for the 3-1 lead.

”He’s got eyes in the back of his head sometimes,” Smith said. ”He’s a great player and he makes great plays.”

The Sharks came out energized by a raucous crowd and the presence of celebrity door opener and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in their first home game of the series.

San Jose got 16 shots on goal in the first period , but were unable to get anything past Fleury, who rebounded well from his first loss of the postseason.

”To come out of that first period 0-0, we need to find a way to get the lead,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”We’re chasing the game the whole series here. Even when we have a quick start like tonight, Fleury is shutting the door and finding the way to let them hang around until they can get something going, which is what happened.”

NOTES: Sharks F Joonas Donskoi (lower body) sat out. Chris Tierney took his place on the top line with Barclay Goodrow slotting in on the third line. … F Tomas Tatar returned after missing the past four games as a healthy scratch. He took the place of Ryan Carpenter.

—

Calling it ”a lucky play,” Jamie Benn stole the puck from Tomas Hertl and scored the go-ahead goal with 3:06 left before tacking on an empty-netter for the hat trick in the Dallas Stars‘ 4-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

”It was just a read,” Benn said. ”I’ll take it.”

So will the Stars, who ended a seven-game road losing streak.

”We played our best third period in a long time,” coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Mike McKenna , who replaced an injured Kari Lehtonen, got the victory after stopping all 17 shots he faced. McKenna last played in the NHL for the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 16, 2015.

”It’s fulfilling getting a win,” McKenna said. ”It was fun to be part of this win. It’s not anything I haven’t seen before. Sometimes you lean on your experience.”

Dallas’ Gemel Smith tied it at 2 with 5:17 left. Devon Shore won a battle along the boards and rushed the net, tapping it to Smith at the last second.

Logan Couture set a career high with his 33rd goal and Timo Meier scored No. 20 for the Sharks, who lost their fourth straight.

”You’re concerned any time you lose a lead,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. ”Again, we played good enough tonight to score four goals and we should have won. We didn’t, and we didn’t handle that as well as we could have in the third. For me, the big mistake was not putting them away when we had the chance , not the third period.”

Lehtonen left with an upper-body injury with 4:06 remaining in the first period. He took a puck to the facemask. Hitchcock said he should be OK for Friday’s game in Los Angeles. Lehtonen saved 12 of 14 shots.

Couture put the Sharks ahead 1-0 when he got a pass from Brent Burns and fired it into the net from long range midway through the first period.

Meier added to the lead six minutes later after chasing down a puck that had bounced off Lehtonen’s pads. He fired from the right side, finding a hole under Lehtonen’s glove.

”You don’t want to be on your heels,” Meier said. ”We were on our heels and you can’t do that late in the season. A thing like that can’t happen again.”

Benn made it 2-1 late in the second period, redirecting a centering pass from John Klingberg off Martin Jones‘ shoulder pad and into the net.

”After the second period we regrouped and refocused,” Benn said. ”We found a way to put together 20 good minutes and found a way to win.”

NOTES: Benn has points in 10 of his last 13 games. … Stars C Tyler Seguin has points in each of his past four games and six of seven overall. … Sharks F Evander Kane missed the game with an apparent arm injury suffered at Las Vegas on Saturday night. … Sharks C Dylan Gambrell made his NHL debut. … The Sharks signed Sasha Chmelevski to a contract and assigned him to the AHL Barracudas.

UP NEXT

Stars: Play at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Sharks: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

—

.

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]