Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel scored short-handed goals 23 seconds apart to highlight a four-goal third-period outburst as the visiting Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night.
Vegas recorded its league-leading 14th comeback victory of the season and extended its overall winning streak to a season-best five games.
Eichel, McNabb, Mark Stone and Brett Howden each finished with a goal and an assist, and Noah Hanifin and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored goals for the Golden Knights.
Alex Pietrangelo had three assists, Victor Olofsson added two assists and Adin Hill finished with 22 saves for the Golden Knights, who won ninth time in their past 10 games while improving to 13-0-3 all-time in the regular-season at San Jose.
Will Smith had a goal and an assist and Shakir Mukhamadullin and Tyler Toffoli also scored for San Jose, which lost its sixth straight game (0-5-1). Fabian Zetterlund added two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves.
Vegas jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 6:58 of the first period. A wide-open Hanifin broke down the slot and buried a wrist shot over Georgiev’s left shoulder.
San Jose tied it at 14:40 of the first period on Mukhamadullin’s first career NHL goal, a slap shot from the left point that sneaked over Hill’s right pad and inside the near post.
The Golden Knights regained the lead at 3:27 of the second period on Stone’s backhand rebound of an Olofsson shot.
However, San Jose rebounded to take a 3-2 lead later in the period. At 5:53, Smith jammed in a Macklin Celebrini crossing pass to tie it, and Toffoli followed at 15:57 with his team-leading 14th goal. Toffoli’s pass from the end boards toward the front of the net caromed off the leg of Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague and inside the right post.
The Golden Knights then opened the third period with three goals in the first 5:46, including the two short-handed goals, to take control of the game.
McNabb tied it 3-3 at the 1:03 mark with a wrist shot from the left circle over Georgiev’s glove after a nifty curl-and-drag move for his first goal in 30 games.
Eichel followed 23 seconds later with another short-handed goal, the team’s third in two games, when he drove past the right side of the goal and banked in a shot off the back of Georgiev.
Dorofeyev then made it 5-3 at the 5:46 mark with a backhand shot around Georgiev’s pad.
The Sharks pulled Georgiev for an extra attacker with 2:45 left, and Howden sealed the win with an empty-netter with 31.5 seconds to go.
–Field Level Media
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