SAN JOSE, Calif. — A foghorn rumbled for 10 seconds. Players celebrated on the ice with hugs. In the crowd, thousands of San Jose Sharks fans waved rally towels, each white hand cloth featuring the word “#DUCKHUNT” above an animation of a cartoon shark clutching two Nintendo-like ducks by the throat.
Amid the third-period hysteria, Vaughn Karpan kept silent.
The Golden Knights’ director of player personnel was here at the SAP Center as an advance scout. From the auxiliary press box, he stood in a gray window-pane suit, coolly watching the goal replay and jotting notes with an orange mechanical pencil.