Golden Knights put nemesis Evander Kane on notice

In hindsight, it seems almost silly to think the rivalry between the Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks cooled off, despite what Jonathan Marchessault suggested Friday.

It hasn’t. And it won’t any time soon.

The Knights once again took exception to a play by San Jose forward Evander Kane, this time a third-period tussle involving forward Reilly Smith.

After the 3-1 victory over the Sharks on Saturday, forward Alex Tuch had a strong response during a postgame interview on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain West.

“Jumping a guy like Smitty, he’s not … I think Evander’s got him by a few pounds, for sure,” Tuch said. “You know what? I know that he’s going to have to keep his head up every game we play. All the next seven games we play, Evander better be looking over his shoulder because there’s going to be a lot of guys that are going to want to get him back for that.”

The latest dust-up involving Kane and the Knights took place at 9:46 of the third period after San Jose couldn’t convert on the rush. Smith carried the puck to the wing and Kane delivered a hit along the wall before the TV camera followed the puck up the ice.

Moments later, the two were seen wrestling each other to the ice, and Kane fired off a couple of right hands from side control to Smith’s face. Both players were given minor penalties for roughing.

Kane was involved in a first-period shouting match with Knights forward Ryan Reaves while the longtime enemies were in the penalty boxes.

But it was the scrum with the mild-tempered Smith that revived the feud, which had been dormant since Dec. 22, 2019.

The bad blood continued soon when Sharks forward Marcus Sorensen flipped the puck at Knights defenseman Nic Hague after the whistle, and the two had to be separated.

The teams play again Feb. 25 at San Jose and meet six more times after that.

“It’s an emotional matchup,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “This is obviously my first time playing these guys as a Vegas Knight. These two teams obviously have a history and that kind of thing is going to happen.

“They both stepped up. I honestly don’t know how it started. It was behind me so I didn’t really see it. It’s an emotional game and things like that are going to happen. Great job by Smitty stepping up for something like that.”

Here are three more takeaways from the Knights’ win:

1. Close for Kolesar

Forward Keegan Kolesar is still looking for his first NHL goal, but could use a four-leaf clover or maybe a lucky loonie since he’s Canadian.

Kolesar had three more good chances Saturday that he couldn’t finish, including a breakaway in the third period after a sensational stretch pass by defenseman Dylan Coghlan.

In 9:39 of ice time, Kolesar finished with four shots on goal and dished out three hits.

“I think he gets better every game,” center Cody Glass said. “For him, he’s in all the right spots. He’s finding ways to create scoring chances, and that’s all you can really ask for. Obviously, he didn’t score today, but if he keeps creating those opportunities, it’s eventually going to go in for him.”

2. Protect the house

The Knights’ defensive coverage broke down on a handful of occasions in the first period, and it might have been costly against a better team than San Jose.

They made the adjustment during first intermission and did a better job of covering the front of the net. Center William Karlsson dropped down low to intercept a centering pass early in the second period, and center Nicolas Roy made a similar play in front of the net later in the period.

The Knights allowed 14 shots on goal in the final two periods after giving up 11 in the first.

“They’re, I think, second in the league in rebound goals or fourth in the league or something like that,” center Chandler Stephenson said. “They get a lot of bodies and pucks to the net. That was obviously emphasized before the game. A job the coaches were looking at and made sure we knew what we were doing.”

3. Dirty work

Five. Fourteen. Seven. That’s the distance, in feet, the puck traveled on each of the Knights’ goals.

Not very far.

That has to please coach Pete DeBoer, who has emphasized getting traffic in front as a Plan B on offense rather than trying to skate the puck into the net.

Jonathan Marchessault followed up his own rebound and was near the blue paint when he knocked the puck out of midair in the first period. Mark Stone put home a rebound, and Stephenson scored from close range off the rush when Tuch’s pass hit his skate.

The Knights went 3-for-5 on the power play, their best showing since scoring four times in five opportunities against St. Louis on Feb. 13, 2020.

“I think just trying to simplify. I think that was probably the biggest thing,” Glass said. “Scored off the rush. Scored different ways, and that’s what makes us dangerous. We can score any way.”

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