Vegas Golden Knights vs San Jose Sharks Prediction 10/9/2025 Today’s NHL Picks

The Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks meet Thursday in NHL action from the SAP Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Vegas Golden Knights vs. San Jose Sharks prediction.

Vegas Golden Knights Recap

The Vegas Golden Knights come into this one looking to rebound after a 6-5 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout to start the year 0-0-1. After this game, the Golden Knights will head on the road again for a matchup against the Seattle Kraken.

Golden Knights Looking To Rebound On Back-To-Back

The Kings took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play before Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring for Vegas 2:10 into the game before the Kings would restore the two-goal lead with just over six minutes to go in the second period. Dorofeyev scored a pair of goals on the power play 1:42 apart to tie the game at three going into the third period. Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev would give the Golden Knights a 5-3 just before the midway point of the third period but the Kings would tie the game with a short-handed and even strength goal 2:21 apart. Regulation or OT wouldn’t decide anything, so it was off to a shootout where the Kings outscored Vegas 2-1 with the lone goal coming off of the stick of Dorofeyev. Adin Hill took the loss after allowing 5 goals on 26 shots and 2 goals in the 3 shots faced in the shootout to sit at 0-0-1 this season.

San Jose Sharks Team Preview

The San Jose Sharks come into the 2025-26 season hoping for some semblance of improvement after finishing with the worst record in the NHL after going 20-50-12 and missing the playoffs for the 6th straight season. This may be the best combination of youth and experience the Sharks have had in a little bit, as Macklin Celebrini will anchor the top line after leading the Sharks with 63 points last year along with William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli. Will Smith provides another solid forward option, along with Jeff Skinner and Adam Gaudette on the second line and Phillip Kurashev and Alex Wennberg on the third line. The Sharks will also be interested to see what they can get out of Michael Misa, one of the brighter 18-year old prospects in recent memory. The Sharks heavily retooled their defense and Yaroslav Askarov has potential to be one of the best up and coming young goalies going forward. 

Vegas Golden Knights @ San Jose Sharks Betting Trends: October 9, 2025

Why the San Jose Sharks will win

• The home team has won four of the Sharks’ last five games.
• The Sharks have covered the puck line in three of their last four home openers.

Why the Vegas Golden Knights will win

• The Sharks have lost each of their last 17 games against Pacific Division opponents.
• The favorites have won each of the Sharks’ last 11 games.
• The Sharks have failed to cover the puck line in three of their last four games.
• The Sharks have lost the third period in each of their last nine games as underdogs against Western Conference opponents when leading after the second period.

Total Goals Facts

• Six of the Sharks’ last seven home games against Pacific Division opponents have gone UNDER the total goals line.
• The ‘Over 1.5 Goals Period 1′ market has hit in nine of the Sharks’ last 12 games.

San Jose Sharks Player Prop Facts

• Jeff Skinner has scored at least one goal in four of his last five appearances in night games at SAP Center at San Jose.
• Jeff Skinner has recorded at least one point in each of his last eight appearances in night games at SAP Center at San Jose.
• John Klingberg has recorded at least one assist in each of his last four appearances at SAP Center at San Jose.

Matchup/League Facts

• The Vegas Golden Knights rank T1st in the league for goals per game this season (5.00).
• The Vegas Golden Knights rank 5th in the league in power play percentage this season (33.33%).

Vegas Golden Knights vs. San Jose Sharks Prediction

I’m on the Golden Knights here. I get that the Golden Knights are on a back-to-back after OT, but historically this is a matchup that Vegas has dominated and I’m sure they’ll be eager to face a Sharks team that has potential, but potential doesn’t fill the win column. The Sharks have to show that they can live up to that potential as far as I’m concerned. Vegas won 7 of their 10 games on the second half of a back-to-back last season and I just think there’s too much of a mismatch here to ignore. Give me the Golden Knights.