SAN JOSE – Will Smith scored twice in his 100th NHL game, and Macklin Celebrini reached 100 points for his career, but the San Jose Sharks allowed four straight goals — including three in a span of seven minutes in the second period — and never fully recovered in a 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
After Smith and Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl traded goals in the first period — the Sharks allowed goals by forwards Mitch Marner and Colton Sissons 1:26 apart to fall behind 3-1. Vegas then took a 4-1 lead at the 12:28 mark of the second period as Hertl redirected a shot from Marner on the power play past Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.
Smith’s second goal came just 2:12 after Hertl scored again, and off an assist from Celebrini, as the Sharks cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 4-2. William Eklund then scored his seventh of the season, and his second in as many days, on a breakaway with 25 seconds left before the second intermission.
But the Sharks were unable to get the equalizer, losing to the Golden Knights for the second time this season.
Nedeljkovic improved as the game went on but allowed four goals on 19 shots through two periods and finished with 20 saves, as the Sharks ended an otherwise impressive month of November with a 9-5-1 record.
In his first 100 NHL games, Smith, the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had 69 points, fourth-most in Sharks history, trailing only Celebrini (100 points in 96 games), Pat Falloon (73 points), and Sandis Ozolinsh (72 points).
Celebrini now has 23 assists this season, and 61 in his career, as he became the first player in Sharks history – by a mile — to record 100 points in less than 100 career NHL games. Other players to quickly reach 100 points at the start of their NHL careers with the Sharks were Ozolinsh (144 games), Falloon (145), Logan Couture (150), Eklund (156), and Ray Whitney (159).
The Sharks entered Saturday in a tie with the Utah Mammoth for the second and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 27 points each.
A win in regulation time on Saturday would have allowed the Sharks to leapfrog the Golden Knights and move into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division.
Indeed, the Sharks remembered their Oct. 9 season opener against the Golden Knights in San Jose.
In that game, a pair of puck-handling blunders by Nedeljkovic led to a 4-3 Golden Knights win in overtime. An seemingly innocuous dump-in by Jack Eichel took an odd bounce and skidded past Nedeljkovic to tie it at 3-3 with 1:34 to play in the third period.
Then, in overtime, Nedeljkovic came far out of his net to play a loose puck, only to have it deflect right to Reilly Smith, who scored the winner on an empty-net.
“We haven’t forgotten the first game,” Graf said on Friday after the Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. “So we’ll be ready to go.”