Forward Danil Gushchin might have given the San Jose Sharks’ front office and coaching staff something to think about before finalizing the team’s roster for the start of the regular season.

Gushchin finished with a remarkable five assists, leading the Sharks to a thrilling 6-5 comeback victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday in the final preseason game for both teams.

With the Sharks trailing by two, Luke Kunin scored goals at 5:00 and 6:18 of the third period before Ethan Cardwell scored with 12 seconds left to give San Jose the unlikely lead.

Winger Klim Kostin and defensemen Jimmy Schuldt and Mario Ferraro also scored for the Sharks, who finished the preseason with a 2-3-1 record. San Jose opens the regular season at home against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

“This feeling that we have in this locker room is an unbelievable feeling,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a men’s league game or a preseason game, it’s important to have this sense of what this group has been through over the years.”

The Sharks have the day off Sunday and return to practice Monday, just hours before all NHL teams must finalize their salary cap-compliant rosters of no more than 23 players.

Has Gushchin, who finished the preseason with a team-high nine points in four games, done enough to push someone else — someone who would likely need waivers — off the roster?

“I thought he had a really good camp, but that’s a discussion we’ll have over the next two days, and then we’ll make a decision,” Warsofsky said of Gushchin. “He’s done a lot of good things and he’s obviously helped our hockey club in every game, so he’s put himself in a good place.”

THE GUSH PUSH?: Who finished as the Sharks’ top scorer in the preseason? Daniel Gushchin.

Will it help him earn a spot on the Sharks’ 23-man roster? Maybe not.

Gushchin, a third-round draft pick of the Sharks in 2020, assisted on Kostin and Ferraro’s goals before he and Kunin teamed up and went to work.

On Kunin’s first goal, Gushchin collected a puck just inside the blue line near the boards and fired the puck toward the net. Kunin then sent the ball past Golden Knights goalkeeper Adin Hill. Just 78 seconds later, and the puck inside Vegas’ end, Gushchin rushed to retrieve it before leaving the zone, skated to the center of the ice and fired a shot that Kunin was able to redirect past Hill.

“Impressive. Really good at the end of the game, I liked this effort,” Warsofsky said. “I know the points will stand out, but just the effort to get that puck back on that one goal, the effort on the wall to make the play to (Nico) Sturm on the Cardwell goal, that was really impressive.”

Still, it appears to be a numbers game for Gushchin at this point, as the Sharks already have Macklin Celebrini, Tyler Toffoli, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Will Smith, Fabian Zetterlund, Kunin, Alexander Wennberg, Ty Dellandrea and Kostin as their top nine. . That doesn’t include Barclay Goodrow, Sturm, Givani Smith and Carl Gundstrom as other depth options.

But Gushchin may have put himself at the front of the line as the first player to be recalled from the Barracuda in the event of an injury.

“We have to make some tough decisions and (Grier) and his staff are going to sit down and find the best guys that we think can help us,” Warsofsky said. “If there’s someone who goes to the AHL, it doesn’t mean he’s not going to help us this year. There are many factors that play a role in this.

“But I couldn’t be prouder of the players, not only here tonight, but at home. It was a very tough training camp.”

Defenseman Luca Cagnoni also had an eye-opening camp for the Sharks with four points in four games. But with Shakir Mukhamadullin possibly nearing a return, the American League is the best place for the 19-year-old Cagnoni.

GOOD CLIMB, BAD CLIMB: The Sharks have experienced the ying and yang of the hulking Kostin all preseason, and that was the case again on Saturday.

On one sequence in the first period after the Sharks pushed into the Golden Knights zone, Kostin took a pass from linemate Danil Gushchin and fired a shot past goalie Adin Hill at the 9:03 mark. The goal was Kostin’s third of the preseason, the most among any Sharks player, and he gave the much smaller Gushchin a big hug after the goal.

But at 4:57 of the first, Kostin was assessed a lazy holding penalty in the Sharks zone as he wrapped his arms around Jack Eichel. Kostin also received a hooking penalty in the third period. Vegas didn’t score on either power play.

It doesn’t appear Kostin is in danger of losing his spot on the team and being placed on waivers before the Sharks have to finalize their roster. Still, Kostin needs to become more consistent from one team to the next, and from one game to the next, if he wants to stay in the lineup.

“I thought he was solid,” Warsofsky said. “He just needs to find more consistency in his game, and he knows that. He and I talked about that. Scores a nice goal. He makes a few plays. He’s shift-to-shift is just a little inconsistent. But I thought he wanted to use his size more tonight because he was more physical.”