SAN JOSE – John Klingberg and Jeff Skinner both scored and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 24 saves to earn a shutout as the San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Sunday in the preseason opener for both teams.
Tyler Toffoli assisted on Klingberg’s second period power play goal added an empty-netter with 42.2 seconds left before an announced crowd of 11,613 at SAP Center.
Klingberg’s power play goal at the 7:18 mark of the second period that gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Michael Misa, taken second overall by the Sharks at the NHL Draft in June, took the faceoff to start the power play and Toffoli retrieved the puck to the right of the Golden Knights’ net. He then sent it to the point for Klingberg, who skated toward the middle of the ice before his shot got past Vegas goalie Carl Lindbom.
Skinner’s goal with 46 seconds left in the second period came at the end of a pretty passing sequence.
Will Smith took control of the puck inside the Golden Knights zone and sent it across the ice to Sam Dickinson, who carried the puck toward the Vegas net, skated around a defenseman and fed an open Skinner for a tap-in goal.
Toffoli’s empty-net goal came after Misa won a faceoff in the Sharks’ zone. Quentin Musty then tapped the puck back to Dickinson, who flipped it into the neutral zone. Golden Knights defenseman Dylan Coghlan couldn’t settle down the puck before Toffoli tipped it ahead of him and scored into the empty net.
Klingberg and Skinner, who played with the Edmonton Oilers last season, both signed one-year contracts with the Sharks as free agents in July, the same time Nedeljkovic was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2028 third-round draft pick.
Nedeljkovic made nine saves in the first period and five in the second against the Golden Knights, whose roster was mostly void of NHL regulars, with ex-Shark Tomas Hertl and marquee offseason addition Mitch Marner not making the trip.
Nedeljkovic preserved the shutout late in the third period, as he stopped a breakaway shot by Alexander Holtz.
Misa, a roster hopeful who was making his NHL preseason debut, was one of a handful of Sharks prospects in the lineup on Sunday. Joining him were Dickinson, who also might be on the Sharks’ opening night roster on Oct. 9, winger Musty, center Zack Ostapchuk, and defenseman Luca Cagnoni.
“Their skill level, their ability to create offense goes without saying, whatever league they’re in,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Misa and Dickinson before Sunday’s game. “I want to see them play without the puck. I want to see how they defend. I want to see how they manage their shifts, how they manage the game, those sorts of things. So it will be a good challenge for them.”
