Center Colton Sissons scores his first goal with Golden Knights in victory over Sharks | Golden Knights

When you’re in a rut like the Golden Knights have been, you’ll take wins any way you can get them.

Even if there’s a stretch in the second period that brought some uneasiness to the building.

But the Knights held on Saturday night to get a much-needed 4-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena to snap a four-game losing streak.

“It felt really good,” defenseman Ben Hutton said. “We’ve been battling to get some W’s at the end of the night. We’ve been right there in a few. It felt good pulling one off there.”

Goaltender Carl Lindbom made 18 saves to record his first NHL win in seven starts. The 22-year-old has served as the backup with Adin Hill out week to week with a lower-body injury.

Center Tomas Hertl scored twice against his former team, and left wing Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist to help the Knights (11-6-8) win at home for just the third time in the last nine games.

The Knights built a lead strong enough to withstand a furious San Jose rally. Center Colton Sissons scored his first Knights goal 5:36 into the second period to kick-start a three-goal frame to take a 4-1 lead on the second leg of a back-to-back.

San Jose (12-11-3) answered twice in the final five minutes of the second to cut the lead to one. Sharks right wing Will Smith scored twice.

“Hopefully, we can build off that,” Sissons said. “Having a good stretch in a period like that feels good. Everyone’s playing with some confidence and some swagger. Hopefully, we can keep that rolling.”

The Knights held the Sharks to five shots in the third period and blocked six. They also had to kill a six-on-four in the final 33 seconds after defenseman Brayden McNabb was called for cross-checking in the corner.

As the final buzzer sounded, captain Mark Stone was the first to greet Lindbom with a hug, followed by the rest of the team happy to bounce back from a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens the day before.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

1. Lindbom finally gets one

Lindbom is extremely confident beyond his years.

Goalies have the hardest job trying to stay the course when things aren’t going their way. Lindbom, as young as he is, could’ve done so given he’s allowed three goals or fewer in all but one start.

Shot volume was low, but Lindbom made the saves necessary to preserve the win. Lindbom improved to 1-4-2 with a 3.14 goals-against average and .870 save percentage.

“He works hard. Great kid,” Hertl said. “It was some tough luck. Some games we could’ve helped him more. He deserves it. Really happy for him.”

This will be Lindbom’s last NHL start for the foreseeable future, barring injury, with Carter Hart set to join the Knights on Monday to be the backup to Akira Schmid.

Lindbom will return to Henderson where his starter’s crease awaits him, and where the Silver Knights have managed to stay afloat with him getting valuable NHL reps.

“He’s got a great future,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You want to get that first one under your belt. I was happy for him.”

2. The good and the bad

The Knights have been chasing games the last little bit, exhausting energy just to try to get the game back to even.

They got the equalizer in the first. Hertl scored his first goal at 16:13 to tie it 1-1. Smith tallied his first at 7:34 when his shot deflected off defenseman Shea Theodore’s stick and took a weird trajectory past Lindbom.

In the second, things turned in the Knights’ favor with three goals in 7:02, starting with Sissons finishing a four-on-one to give them the lead.

Marner ended an 11-game goal drought 1:26 later when he took a chip pass from center Brett Howden, drove to the net and finished with a wraparound.

Hertl scored his second, this time on the power play, at 12:38 to make it 4-1.

“The good was we controlled play,” Cassidy said. “Those second periods, if you’re able to get on the right side of line changes and puck possession, we were able to do that.”

But the Sharks answered with two goals in the final 5:20 of the second. Smith scored his second on the power play off a turnover from right wing Keegan Kolesar, and left wing William Eklund scored off a neutral-zone turnover on a breakaway with 23 seconds left.

“When they’ve just scored and it’s 30 seconds left and you’ve had a good period, you got to play a little safer there. We didn’t and they took advantage of us,” Cassidy said. “So that’s something we can use to our advantage going forward.”

3. Lineup changes

Cassidy shook up the forward group with a third game in four days, sitting veteran wingers Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith for Cole Reinhardt and Alexander Holtz.

Reinhardt had an assist on Sissons’ goal and was called for the penalty that led to Smith’s second goal. Holtz didn’t have a shot in 12:22 and lost the board battle that led to Eklund’s goal.

Cassidy called the decision a mixture of performance-based and giving the veterans a rest. Reinhardt is better suited at the fourth-line role. Smith skated in that spot the previous two games.

It doesn’t sound like from Cassidy’s perspective this is a permanent thing. One of them will at least get back in for Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“My job wasn’t fun this morning talking to those guys, letting them know they’re not playing,” Cassidy said. “At the end of the day, we win the game, but that could have just as easily been with the other two in the lineup.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.