Cardwell Hat Trick, Regenda’s 4 Assists Power Sharks’ 4-1 Victory Over Vegas

The San Jose Sharks visit the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

The Vegas broadcast isn’t showing the clock, so my times here are very approximate.

Ethan Cardwell (hat trick!) and Egor Afanasyev scored, and the Sharks won 4-1.

Period 1

Cardwell goal: Whoa, Regenda just mugs Lauzon high for puck. Love seeing that, Lauzon is a legit NHL defenseman. But Regenda sons him. Regenda gives it Cardwell, who lasers a shot past Hill.

Ethan Cardwell goes BAR DOWN to give the Sharks an early lead 💪 pic.twitter.com/BNOgTzUiWl

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 4, 2025

9 in: Well, credit to Ostapchuk for standing up for his guys. Trips before fight to Lauzon actually starts though.

8 left: Musty takes a little too much time around power play wall. Has to play faster.

7 left: Afanasyev does a nice job near the end of the power play, protecting puck behind Hill, keeping puck alive.

6 left: Graf and Dellandrea are San Jose Sharks’ top-two penalty killers here, I’ve said it, but in terms of Dellandrea over Grundstrom for the opening night roster, Dellandrea’s special teams versatility is a factor.

Notably here, Dellandrea and Graf are wearing A’s. Liljegren wearing the other A. Another sign that Graf should be on the opening night roster.

Nedeljkovic has been incredible so far too…save some saves for the regular season, Alex!

Period 2

Thompson has a tough time getting it out with Howden on top of him. Tried to outskate Howden but Howden on him like white on rice. Leads to extended VGK possession. Not an easy play for Thompson, of course, Howden legit forechecker, but that can be the difference between an established NHL puckmover and not.

3 in: Nice pull-and-drag by Regenda for shot versus Whitecloud.

5 in: Graf kills a point play high, nice. Like to see that defensively.

Remenda criticizes that Lund turnover and think he’s right. Cagnoni gains the zone, drops it to Lund at point, who tries to hit the perfect pass to late man coming down middle of ice. Turnover. Remenda says just get it in deep. Turnovers crossing blueline are often disastrous, bad place to lose it. You gotta be 100 percent there or you feed counterattack.

8 in: Misa backchecks on Hertl, once again, a willing and conscientious defender.

10 in: Penalty killer Cardwell disrupts up high, he really has picked it up since first week of camp. Thought he started out a little slow, but he’s making a case for an early call-up, for sure.

5 left: Smith hasn’t had a power play to remember, not as sharp. Remenda notes the power play is young and they needed to help Smith more along the wall (a San Jose Sharks’ rim skipped over Smith’s stick, leading to Vegas possession).

Afanasyev goal: Nice Regenda pass. Keep-in by Cagnoni when it looked like Vegas PK exiting, that got PK out of sorts for Regenda to take advantage of a quick 2-on-1.

3 left: Cagnoni dancing on PP blueline beautifully here.

2 left: Misa wanted Smith on the PP one-timer there, Vegas stick. Maybe Misa can be a tad quicker there to make the play.

Lauzon really trying to agitate here, now Desharnais stands up to him. Love it for both sides, Lauzon playing to the whistle by hitting Lund, and Sharks can afford the extra penalty there. Preseason plus they have the lead.

Period 3

3 in: Graf still has to learn though. Dickinson hits him with beaut stretch pass, Graf doesn’t have the step to maybe drive the net, but his choice to opt for drop pass to Lund coming down the middle, it’s a turnover. Graf could’ve put his head down and protected the puck, I think.

Maybe Kolesar gave Dickinson a little bit of a late hit? Then Afanasyev takes on two Knights, Sissons and Howden. Love that. Like how the San Jose Sharks are standing up for each other tonight.

Cardwell goal: Love Regenda there, 1-on-whatever, gets it in deep, gets puck himself, beating Lauzon to it, then feeds it to Cardwell who lights it up.  I don’t know if Regenda intended it, but won the puck to himself in an unusual way, not with speed, but with a hard dump that bounces back to him, and he holds off Lauzon.

Holtz goal: But Cardwell-Ostapchuk-Regenda-Cagnoni-Thompson can’t get it out, long shot looks like it might have deflected in.

10 in: There’s a Dickinson processing question there. He steps up on Marner in NZ, doesn’t kill the play, Marner hits Eichel for a near-breakaway except Dellandrea stays with Eichel. Have seen this with Dickinson, will go all out for the big play and miss, leaving his backside exposed.

7 left: Cagnoni takes it from Sissons one-on-one, like.

Smith gets behind Lund, breakaway, Hed!

Nice short exit pass from Dickinson under duress to Sharks, that’s an NHL play there.

4 left: Timely pinch from Mukhamadullin to keep it in there, good read, speed and reach.

Cardwell goal: Empty net hat trick! I joked with Warsofsky after his morning skate avail, maybe one of these bubble players will drop five points like Gushchin did in Vegas. Cardwell drops a hat trick and Regenda has four assists.

Wow, Cardwell had seven of the San Jose Sharks’ 20 shots.