Golden Knights look to increase lead over Sharks

The Golden Knights and Sharks play twice in the next nine days starting Thursday at San Jose.

And the Knights, who own an eight-point lead over San Jose with nine games left, hope to put some distance between themselves and their nearest chaser in the Pacific Division.

”The position we’ve been in in the standings, we’ve had to play those style of games and try and keep those opponents behind us,” Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said Wednesday at City National Arena. “The final stretch of the year, that’s when it comes down to it and points get more crucial for any team trying to make their playoff push.

“This next road trip, playing San Jose and Colorado, they’re both good teams and fighting for spots, so it’s going to be two really good tests for us.”

San Jose (91 points) has won a season-high five straight games, and trade-deadline acquisition Evander Kane added some scoring punch to a lineup that’s been without center Joe Thornton since Jan. 23.

The Sharks have 27 goals in their past five games, which the franchise hasn’t done since 1996.

San Jose visits T-Mobile Arena on March 31.

“We know they have a good team,” Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “It’s going to be a really big battle for us. The game is going to be a playoff game and we’ve got to be ready for it.”

They shoot, they score

The Knights rank second in the NHL with 248 goals (including shootout-deciding goals) entering Wednesday’s games. That total is third-most in NHL history by a team in its inaugural season behind Hartford (303) and Edmonton (301) in 1979-80.

The Knights (3.40 goals per game) are on pace to become the fourth franchise in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to finish their first season averaging at least three goals per game.

They would join Hartford (3.79), Edmonton (3.76) and Quebec (3.10), which all debuted in the 1979-80 season.

Turk closes in

Gallant notched career coaching win No. 199 in the Knights’ 4-1 thumping of Vancouver on Tuesday and would become the 75th coach in NHL history to reach 200 victories.

Gallant is 198-161-4-36 in seven seasons with Columbus, Florida and the Knights.

Glass earns award

Golden Knights prospect Cody Glass of Portland in the Western Hockey League was named a Western Conference first-team all-star. Glass, the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, also was given the conference’s Most Sportsmanlike Player award.

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