Sharks blank Golden Knights 4-0 to even series

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Gordon Gekko famously said greed is good in the movie “Wall Street” 30 years ago.

And after regaining home-ice advantage in their Western Conference semifinals, the Golden Knights could afford to be a little greedy entering Wednesday’s Game 4.

Instead, Sharks goaltender Martin Jones turned in a bounceback performance with 34 saves, and the Knights had to settle for a split in Northern California after a 4-0 loss before an announced crowd of 17,562 at SAP Center.

“They came in and got a split in our building, and you definitely want to come back here and get at least a split, if not better,” Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland said. “We got one of them, so we’re going home best-of-three now and we’ve just got to get ready for the next one.”

Marcus Sorensen had a goal for the Sharks, who received a superb performance from their fourth line. Joonas Donskoi, Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski also scored to help San Jose even the best-of-seven series at two games each.

Game 5 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at T-Mobile Arena.

“You come on the road and you’re not always going to win every game on the road,” Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “But we won one and we go back home and get the momentum from the crowd, and I definitely like our chances.”

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 30 stops for the Knights.

“You’re never happy when you lose,” Fleury said. “We had a chance to hurt them tonight with a win and we didn’t. Back to square one. It’s a tied series, and we just have to get ready for the next one.”

The Knights got off to a better start than they did in Games 2 or 3, as Erik Haula and Reilly Smith created scoring chances in the first nine minutes and Nate Schmidt’s shot hit the post on a power play late in the first period.

Despite the effort, the Knights allowed two goals in the final 4:23 of the period and trailed 2-0.

Sorensen put San Jose ahead when he scooped up the puck along the wall and broke free from Alex Tuch. Sorensen then cut around a sliding Jon Merrill and lifted the puck over Fleury for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Sharks forward Eric Fehr appeared to make contact with Tuch, which helped give Sorensen extra space, but no penalty was called despite the Knights’ protests.

“You guys (saw) the play,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Donskoi, who missed Game 3 with a lower-body injury, increased the Sharks’ lead when he went end-to-end with 5.1 seconds remaining in the period.

Donskoi used Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb as a screen and snapped the shot through McNabb’s legs for his second goal this postseason.

“They were good in the neutral zone. They were fast,” Marchessault said. “It was a better game for them. We got caught a little sleeping in the first period, and they took advantage.”

The Sharks went ahead 3-0 at 5:35 of the second period when Hertl pounced on a rebound after Fleury turned away a wraparound attempt by Mikkel Boedker.

Jones had two key saves in the final 30 seconds of the period, stopping William Karlsson and then Marchessault on a Knights’ power play.

Marchessault almost brought the Knights within two goals with 5:30 left in the second when his shot trickled past Jones but was cleared out of the crease by San Jose defenseman Brent Burns.

“We knew it was going to be a long series,” Engelland said. “They’re a good team, and they’ve got a lot of guys that have been through this before. We’ve just got to turn the page.”

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.