Howden scores twice as Golden Knights win 7-3 and hand Sharks ninth straight loss

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Brett Howden scored twice, Mark Stone had a goal and two assists and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the winless San Jose Sharks 7-3 on Saturday night.

William Karlsson, who missed the first eight games with an undisclosed injury, had a goal and an assist in his season debut for Vegas. Tanner Pearson, Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for the Golden Knights, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.

Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm and Luke Kunin scored for San Jose while Vitek Vanecek made 35 saves.

San Jose: The Sharks became the first team in NHL history to go winless in its first nine games in consecutives seasons. Per Stathead, only 10 teams have opened the season winless after 10 games, including last year’s Sharks team that didn’t get its first win until its 12th game.

Vegas: For the first time in his 12-year career, Tomas Hertl stepped in for an opening puck drop against the Sharks. Hertl spent 11 seasons in San Jose before being traded last March. Hertl finished with two assists, stretching his point streak to three games (3 goals, 4 assists).

After Granlund's goal pulled the Sharks to 3-1 in the second period, Vanecek gave the Knights back their momentum when he raced out of his crease for the puck. But as he dove for it, Karlsson beat him to the poke, then retrieved the puck, skated back around, and buried it to restore the three-goal lead midway through the period.

Howden became the 13th Golden Knights player to record a multi-point game this season when he scored his second goal of the game. Karlsson became the 12th when he scored his goal earlier in the game.

The Golden Knights host Calgary on Monday, while the Sharks play at Utah.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL