Lindbom gets 1st NHL win, Golden Knights hold off Sharks

LAS VEGAS -- Carl Lindbom made 18 saves for his first NHL win, and the Vegas Golden Knights held on for a 4-3 victory against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Lindbom, who Vegas selected in the seventh round (No. 222) of the 2021 NHL Draft, was 0-4-2 in his first six starts this season.

“He’s a great kid,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He works hard, has a great future. He had a little bit of tough luck, whether it was a goal here or a goal there or we didn’t score enough for him, whatever. I was happy for him. I thought he made a lot of good saves tonight.”

Tomas Hertl scored twice, and Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (11-6-8), who ended a four-game losing streak (0-2-2).

“We weren’t going to be able to cruise [to a win]. Those are lessons you learn on this," Cassidy said. "There are not a lot of easy wins in the NHL, especially this year when you look around the National Hockey League. San Jose, give them credit, they don’t quit. They’re not going anywhere. They played good hockey for the last month and a half.”

Will Smith had two goals, William Eklund also scored, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 20 saves for the Sharks (12-11-3), who were coming off a 3-2 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.

“Effort was good,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We competed hard. There are obviously some things in our [defense], some detail stuff. We’re probably giving up five 5-on-5 chances too many. We need to get those down to give ourselves a better chance and keep the puck out of the back of our net.”

Smith gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 7:34 of the first period. He took a stretch pass from Tyler Toffoli, skated into the left circle, and scored with a shot that hit off the stick of Shea Theodore and fluttered past Lindbom's glove.

Hertl tied the game 1-1 at 16:13. Pavel Dorofeyev lost control of the puck in the slot, but Hertl skated into it and quickly scored blocker side.

“I always like to pass, but I always get it from my coaches and my family. They say, ‘You have to shoot more,’” Hertl said. “You never score if you don’t shoot a lot of the time.”

Colton Sissons put Vegas ahead 2-1 with his first goal of the season at 5:36 of the second period. Nedeljkovic stopped Keegan Kolesar's initial shot on a 4-on-1 rush, but the puck trickled into the crease, where Sissons poked it just over the goal line.

“Just made a good hard play coming out of our end, and ‘Koley’ and I had a 2-on-1 from basically the top of the circles,” Sissons said. “Fortunately, squeaked through the goalie and barely got it across the line. Found a way.”

Marner extended the lead to 3-1 at 7:02. He got Nedeljkovic to overcommit on a rush at the right post, allowing him to tuck the puck in on a wraparound.

It was his first goal since Nov. 6 (ended an 11-game drought).

Hertl scored his second of the game at 12:38, redirecting Marner's slap shot from the above the circles on a power play to make it 4-1.

Smith also scored his second of the game on a power play to cut it to 4-2 at 14:40. Macklin Celebrini forced Kolesar to turn the puck over into the low slot, where Smith quickly capitalized.

“I got a bunch of good looks,’ Smith said. “When they start going in, you feel good and just want to keep shooting.”

Eklund got the Sharks to within 4-3 at 19:35 of the second, sliding a backhand through Lindbom’s five-hole on a breakaway.

“We got right back in it,” Nedeljkovic said. “We scored on the power play there, that gets us right back in it. Get one before the end of the second, it gave us a lot of life. There were a lot of good vibes here in between periods, and just trying to find a way to get the next one. They just did a good job of playing simple hockey and not giving us much.”

NOTES: Golden Knights forward Mark Stone had the secondary assist on Marner's goal to extend his personal point streak to nine games (four goals, 12 assists). ... Celebrini's assist on Smith's power-play goal was his 100th NHL point (39 goals, 61 assists in 96 games).