LAS VEGAS — Logan Couture scored in overtime, Aaron Dell made 37 saves and the San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 Thursday night.
Timo Meier scored early in the second period for San Jose, and Brayden McNabb tied it midway through the third.
Dell had perhaps his best performance of the season against a team that had given him fits in his three prior meetings. Dell came in 0-2-1 with a 4.28 goals against average and an .868 save percentage against the Golden Knights, but he stopped 33 of 34 shots in regulation and four more in overtime.
Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, coming off a highlight-reel save Tuesday, stopped 27 shots.
San Jose is 7-3-0 in November to improve to 11-11-1 overall. It arrived in Vegas eager for a victory after its six-game winning streak was snapped in Tuesday’s home loss to Edmonton
After a physical start, including a first period that featured 29 combined hits and 20 shots on goal, the Sharks opened the scoring when Meier showed off his strength by holding off defenceman Nate Schmidt. He backhanded the puck past Fleury 1:26 into the second.
McNabb scored and invigorated Vegas midway through the third, when he fired a shot from the top of the right circle and beat Dell glove side with his second goal of the season. Both of the defenceman’s goals this season have come against San Jose.
NOTES: Sharks F Tomas Hertl was a late scratch, resulting in the Sharks using 11 forwards and seven defenceman, rather than the traditional 12/6 ratio. … Vegas F Paul Stastny is now two games away from playing in the 900th of his career. … Fans chanted “pay your marker” at San Jose F Evander Kane following recent allegations by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas that he owes the casino $500,000 in gambling debt. … Dan O’Halloran, one of the two referees in Game 7 of last season’s Western Conference quarterfinal series between Vegas and San Jose, was on the ice. O’Halloran was one of the two referees assigned to Game 7, which included a disputed major penalty call on Knights centre Cody Eakin that ignited San Jose’s come-from-behind win in overtime.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Host Islanders on Saturday.
Golden Knights: Host Edmonton on Saturday.
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W.G. Ramirez, The Associated Press