Watch Sharks, Golden Knights further ignite rivalry with line brawl

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Over the last two weeks, the Sharks and Golden Knights have faced each other four times -- twice in preseason and twice already in the regular season. They didn't like each other before those recent encounters, and based on the way the fourth one concluded Friday night, there's now even less love lost between them, if there's any at all.

In the first 50-plus minutes of San Jose's 5-1 loss in Friday's home opener, the Sharks didn't put up much of a fight whatsoever. They fell behind five minutes into the contest, and that snowballed into a 5-0 deficit midway through the third period. It wasn't until the Sharks got on the scoresheet that they began to show some fire.

Immediately after Barclay Goodrow cut the deficit to 5-1 with just under six minutes remaining, all hell broke loose.

You could sense it was coming.

In the aftermath of the brawl, six 10-minute misconducts (and resulting ejections) were given out, as San Jose's Joe Thornton, Marcus Sorensen and Goodrow headed to the locker room early, as did Vegas' William Karlsson, Nicolas Hague and Deryk Engelland. Additionally, Sorensen was assessed a two-minute minor for roughing, which was served by Lukas Radil.

Vegas ultimately skated away with a 5-1 win, but San Jose's physical response perhaps provided the Sharks with a minuscule moral victory in their defeat.

[RELATED: What we learned in Sharks' loss to Vegas in home opener]

It's the best rivalry going in the NHL right now, and it doesn't look like it will ease up any time soon. They'll play twice more in the regular season, all before the end of the calendar year, with each side hosting one of those contests on their home ice.

Beyond that, the only other encounter the Sharks and Golden Knights could have this season would be in the playoffs.

Like that would ever happen ...

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