FINAL: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Seattle Kraken 1.
Tuesday’s match marked the tail end of a back-to-back and the second game of three in four nights for the Seattle Kraken as they wrap up their regular season. Usually at this time of year with both teams playoff bound, at least one of them might be taking it easy, but with 1st place on the line for the Golden Knights and 3rd place on the line for the Kraken, the likelihood of some intensity remained prevalent.
The same two teams face one another in the season finale at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday night.
The Golden Knights entered Tuesday’s game with a two-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers at the top of the division while the Kraken trailed the 3rd place LA Kings by the same margin.
Forward Jaden Schwartz returned to the Seattle line-up after missing two games. Jaycob Megna and Cale Fleury played D for the club, giving Justin Schultz and Carson Soucy a night off.
Could the “Joey Daccord story” actually be unfolding. With Martin Jones sitting out due to injury and Philipp Grubauer having started and won in Arizona on Monday night, it was Daccord’s game to handle on Tuesday.
Laurent Brossoit started in net for Vegas.
— Michael Amadio (15th) opened the scoring in the game at 5:37 for the Golden Knights
Kraken Goal Scorers:
1st Period
1-1 Tie – Even Strength – Yanni Gourde (14) from Oliver Bjorkstrand, 9:06
Reilly Smith turned the puck over for Vegas in the neutral zone and Gourde skated in and sniped from the right circle.
2nd Period
— Amadio would score again, this time just 2-minutes into the period to give Vegas another lead, 2-1.
— Smith would score later in the period. The Amadio, Smith, William Karlsson line produced all three Vegas goals. You could say Smith was in on all four tallies thus far, with the turnover that led to Seattle’s goal.
— Vegas outshot Seattle 16-9 in the 2nd period.
3rd Period
— The Golden Knights received the franchise’s first ever, full two-minute 5-on-3 advantage as Seattle’s Will Borgen went off for interference at the same time Jesper Froden went off for hooking at 3:05. Jonathan Marchessault would score quickly on the two-man advantage to make it 4-1.
— Vegas outshot Seattle 37-21. Power play: Seattle 0-for-2, Vegas 1-for-3
It wasn’t to be the Kraken’s night. That said, the loss was not a bad thing. One could easily argue the potential postseason match-up for Seattle as the 1st wild card is more advantageous than if they earned 3rd-place in the Pacific Division.
