Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and two assists as the Vegas Golden Knights won their eighth consecutive game, defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Wednesday in Las Vegas to become the first NHL team to clinch a playoff berth this season.
The Golden Knights improved to 7-0-0 against the Sharks with only the teams’ regular-season finale, May 12 in San Jose, remaining in the season series.
Mark Stone, Alex Tuch and Mattias Janmark also scored for the Golden Knights, and Janmark added an assist. Vegas’ Shea Theodore had two assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for his fourth consecutive win.
Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl tallied goals for San Jose while Josef Korenar made 35 saves in his second NHL start. The Sharks took their seventh defeat in a row (0-6-1).
First-place Vegas (33-11-2, 68 points) leads the second-place Colorado Avalanche (30-9-4, 64 points) by four points in the West Division. San Jose (18-23-5, 41 points) is four points back of the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes (20-22-5, 45 points) for the West’s last playoff position.
Meier opened up the scoring by posting up in the blue paint and tapping in Joel Kellman’s shot to put San Jose put 1-0 at 2:38 in the first period.
Marchessault tied the game at 1-1 by wrapping the puck around Korenar’s leg at 6:51 of the opening frame.
The tie held for the majority of the second period until Hertl got a hold of Patrick Marleau’s rebound and his cross-ice shot eluded Fleury to make it 2-1 at 11:07.
The Golden Knights went on a power play a minute later, and Stone capitalized to tie the game 2-2 at 12:52.
Vegas then gained momentum after killing off a penalty, and Theodore set up Tuch to beat Korenar up high and give Vegas a 3-2 lead 50 seconds before the end of the period.
Vegas capitalized on a turnover that led to Marchessault’s second goal at 13:18 of the third period, giving the Knights a 4-2 cushion. Marchessault, who has 13 goals on the season, ended a six-game goal drought.
Janmark buried an empty-netter with 56 seconds left to cap the scoring. It was his first goal for Vegas after arriving from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade last week.

Blackhawks rally for critical OT win over Predators
Brandon Hagel notched the game-winning goal three minutes into overtime to complete the Chicago Blackhawks’ furious late rally over Nashville, edging the visiting Predators 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Hagel took a pass from Vinnie Hinostroza in three-on-three play and lifted a high shot over goalie Juuse Saros for his second overtime winner this season for Chicago (22-20-5), which beat Nashville (25-21-2) for the first time in seven tries (1-4-2).
The situation looked dire after Nashville’s Luke Kunin made it 4-1 early in the third period, but rookie Wyatt Kalynuk and Hinostroza scored 69 seconds apart to put the match at
4-3.
Less than two minutes later, Dominik Kubalik tied it at 4 with his 15th tally, and the first of the two-game set eventually went to overtime to set up Hagel’s heroics.
Pius Suter posted a goal and an assist, and Hagel also notched two assists. Goalie Malcolm Subban was outstanding in stopping 36 of 40 shots in just his second start this month.
Nashville’s Mikael Granlund posted a goal and an assist, and Colton Sissons and Eeli Tolvanen found the net. Ryan Johansen handed out an assist in his 700th NHL game.
Back in goal after a 30-save win Tuesday over Chicago, Saros made 25 saves for the Predators, who lost for just the fifth time in their last 17 games (12-4-1).
In the first period, Hagel quickly turned after a Hinostroza steal, led a two-on-one and dished a pass to rookie Suter, who popped in his 13th goal at 4:14.
Back in the lineup after missing seven games, rookie Tolvanen tied it at 1 by jamming home a pass from Viktor Arvidsson for his 11th goal at 14:16.
In the second after a long shift in the Chicago defensive end and the Blackhawks unable to get a line change, Matt Benning flipped a high, short pass that Sissons clipped with a high stick.
However, Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy touched the puck as it bounced into the Predators’ offensive zone – negating any high-stick stoppage of play – and Sissons possessed it, raced in and gave Nashville its first lead at 13:39.
In the frame’s final seconds, Granlund buried a dagger – using a curl-and-drag move to get inside of Murphy in the left circle for his 12th marker with 1.4 seconds remaining for a 3-1 lead.

results
Golden Knights    5-2    Sharks
Blackhawks    5-4    Predators
Wild    4-1    Coyotes
Canadiens    4-3    Oilers