It's a season opener San Jose Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic won't soon forget — although he'll try his best to. The netminder made two costly gaffes, one late in regulation and another in overtime, gifting the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over their Pacific Division rivals on Thursday night.

Nedeljkovic was excellent in the preseason, allowing just one goal over two games — both against Vegas — while sporting a .981 save percentage. That earned him an opening night nod over Yaroslav Askarov, and things were going well until late in the third period.

Nedeljkovic misplayed an easy Jack Eichel dump-in attempt from center ice which tied the game with under two minutes left. In the extra frame, he came out of his net errantly, allowing Reilly Smith to easily pot the winner. That all came after William Eklund had a terrific chance to score into the empty net and virtually call game just moments before.

“Well, we were certainly fortunate,” Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy admitted after his team's first win of the season, per NHL.com's Max Miller. “The ironic thing is, we played that goalie twice in preseason. A little bit of October hockey, I guess. The hockey gods went our way tonight. I actually feel bad for him. He played well in there.”

“Just got caught in between on the third one, whether to go out and try to catch it in the air or let it bounce and hop,” Nedeljkovic said, per Miller. “Usually when you're in between at this level, bad things happen.”

Nedeljkovic, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason, finished the night with 27 saves on 31 shots. He'll most certainly want a couple of those goals back, but it was still a mostly encouraging start for a San Jose team that is widely expected to be near the bottom of league standings in 2025-26.

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“I liked our game. We were skating. Playing with good structure for the most part,” said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “Obviously, a couple of things we've got to clean up, but I liked our game. Our guys competed.”

Golden Knights avoid a winless start

For Vegas, it's a very fortunate victory after a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the first half of the back-to-back on Wednesday. The Knights led 5-3 midway through the third period in that contest, but allowed LA to score twice before they eventually prevailed in a shootout.

Still, Cassidy's team will take a 1-0-1 record, all things considered.

“I'd like to score in different ways, but right now in the season, just take it,” said Smith, who scored one of the oddest goals of his career in OT. “I'm just glad I could help the team win.”

There's no NHL hockey on Friday night, but the league resumes with a packed, 32-team slate on Saturday. The Knights will be in Seattle to play the Kraken that day, while the Sharks will welcome the 0-1 Anaheim Ducks to SAP Center.