GAME DAY: Golden Knights look to grab edge in series with Sharks

The Golden Knights will look to take the lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinals when they host San Jose in Game 3 on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.

Opening faceoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.

When a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 goes on to take the series 67.9 percent of the time.

“I put no importance in the stats, but the only thing is, for me this is the only thing that matters. This is the most important game of the series until they blow the horn at the end of the game,” center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “We have to get better and better into our forecheck and make sure we create more grind, because I think that’s something we haven’t really created much of.”

Russian forward Nikita Gusev, who signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Knights on Sunday, did not participate in the morning skate and will not play.

Coach Gerard Gallant said he does not expect any changes to the lineup from Game 2, when the Knights pulled out a chaotic 5-3 victory at San Jose to take away home-ice advantage in the series.

Cody Eakin wore a jaw protector during morning skate at City National Arena after he appeared to be injured in the postgame scrum Friday.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is coming off a 34-save effort and blanked the Sharks over the final two periods. Fleury has 76 career postseason victories and can tie Mike Vernon for seventh on the all-time list.

The Knights went 7-3 at home in the postseason but lost their final two games at T-Mobile Arena in the Stanley Cup Final against Washington.

In the first two games of the series, the Knights have racked up 56 penalty minutes and successfully killed off 11 of San Jose’s 13 power-play opportunities.

“We can’t take as many penalties as we did the past two games. We have to watch that,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “I think we played some good hockey last game, and we’ll try to carry that into tonight.”

San Jose is expected to start goaltender Martin Jones, who was pulled less than seven minutes into Game 2 after allowing three goals on seven shots.

Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was not on the ice at the Sharks’ morning skate, and coach Peter DeBoer said he would be a game-time decision.

Vlasic left early in the second period Friday after blocking a shot and did not return. He was not in the Sharks’ projected lineup released on the team’s official social media account, and Tim Heed was paired with Justin Braun at morning skate.

“This is a big game tonight. I know playing at home in the past has been great for us,” Theodore said. “Our fans are always loud, and it’s going to be buzzing in there tonight, so I think we’re definitely going to be able to feed off that energy.”

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Mark Stone

Tomas Nosek-Cody Eakin-Alex Tuch

William Carrier-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Nate Schmidt-Deryk Engelland

Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore

Jon Merrill-Colin Miller

Goaltender

Marc-Andre Fleury