Vegas Golden Knights eliminate Sharks in Game 6: Full highlights and analysis

The Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 to advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time in franchise history. Check below for a full recap, highlights and more.

History keeps coming for these Vegas Golden Knights. To say that they’re headed to the Western Conference Final for the first time ever is a bit odd, considering it’s their first season in the NHL. That statement still amazes us. Unfortunately for the San Jose Sharks, they became yet another victim to this Cinderella squad that will now face either the Winnipeg Jets or Nashville Predators.

How did we get here? The game didn’t start so well for the Golden Knights. They were badly outplayed in the third period of Game 5, nearly allowing San Jose to tie it after Vegas was leading 4-0. They were outplayed to start this one also. The Sharks hit an inordinate amount of posts in the first and second frames. It’s a case of so close but so far away as they simply could not beat Fleury or the iron, only to see a turnover lead to a Jonathan Marchessault goal six minutes into period two.

Nine minutes after the Marchessault score, Nate Schmidt hit one off the camera inside the netting. Again, an unfortunate break for the Sharks. San Jose rung so many posts, people started lining up outside for evening supper. Vegas clips iron and it goes in. Such is hockey.

Ryan Carpenter finished it with the empty netter, and he was part of a brilliant effort we’ll discuss in a minute. A major takeaway as well from this game was the adjustment to Game 5 made by head coach Gerard Gallant. His Golden Knights were decimated near the end of it, so he put Ryan Reaves in on the bottom line for Game 6 and it paid off.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/993299583051681792

Three Stars

1. Marc-Andre Fleury: It seems that Fleury is always at least in the running to make the three stars section, but for good reason. He put on another stellar performance to help Vegas eliminate San Jose. He’ll now face either opposing netminder Connor Hellebuyck or Pekka Rinne, both of whom are Vezina Trophy candidates. Let’s hope we get the goalie duel we were hoping for in the Winnipeg Jets/Nashville Predators series.

2. The Golden Knights fourth line: If you watched the game, you know what we’re talking about. John Forslund discussed it all night. The Golden Knights were outplayed in the first period, then outplayed to start the third despite leading 2-0. So what does Vegas do? Continue to put the fourth line of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Carpenter and Ryan Reaves out there to gain possession of the puck and create scoring chances. They did it the entire game. When the Golden Knights needed to slow the pressure San Jose was putting on, the fourth line continued to be there as a bandaid. They could easily be the first star if not for Fleury’s shutout.

3. Tomas Hertl: After picking up a goal and two points in the Sharks’ Game 5 loss on Friday, Hertl had another great effort in Game 6. He didn’t pick up any points this time around, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Most of that had to do with goal posts and Fleury being Fleury. He had a solid series in picking up three goals and five points in the six games. Unfortunately for San Jose it wasn’t enough.

Next: The Vegas Shark Reef Aquarium is trolling the San Jose Sharks

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