Golden Knights Blow Out Sharks 7-0 to Take 1-0 Series Lead

The Vegas Golden Knights opened their Western Conference semifinal series with a bang.

Playing in front of a buzzing home crowd at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights throttled the San Jose Sharks 7-0 in Game 1 on Thursday night.

The goals came early and often for the Golden Knights, who had been off since April 17 following a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1.

Cody Eakin got the party started with his second goal of the playoffs 4:31 into the first period, and the floodgates opened after that.

Erik Haula put Vegas up 2-0 a mere 26 seconds later, and Jonathan Marchessault followed his lead by smashing in the team's third tally one minute, five seconds later:

The first-period scoring avalanche continued with Alex Tuch's power-play goal, and TSN's Chris Stevenson noted a Sharks defense that looked dynamite in Round 1 had devolved into shambles: 

Shea Theodore joined the party with the second period's lone goal, at which point Sportsnet Stats noted the Golden Knights offense was finding the back of the net at a remarkable clip compared to the Western Conference quarterfinals:

With a pair of third-period goals, courtesy of Colin Miller and James Neal, Vegas matched its entire first-round scoring total in the span of 60 minutes. Not bad for an opening statement. 

Not to be overlooked was goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury, who registered his third shutout in Vegas' first five postseason games by saving all 33 shots San Jose fired his way.

He also participated in an arena-wide wave with the result in hand late in the third period:

The Sharks will try to break through against the three-time Stanley Cup champion netminder when Game 2 gets underway Saturday at 8 p.m. ET from Sin City.