The Seattle Kraken couldn’t play spoiler to the Stanley Cup celebrations of the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Adin Hill stopped 32 of 33 shots and the Kraken were unable to take advantage of 11 minutes of power play time in a 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights on the night they lifted last year’s championship banner to the rafters in Vegas.
Chandler Stephenson, Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev built a 3-0 lead for Vegas by the early stages of the second period and Jack Eichel added an empty net goal to end any comeback aspirations for the Kraken in the season opener for both teams.
The power play struggles were the most critical point of the night for Seattle as a deficiency from last year’s team rolled into the opening performance of the 2023-24 season.
“I’m not disappointed with our overall effort. I think some individuals obviously can have a better night,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’ve got to take some things out of this, improve on them and get right back at it in two nights.”
Seattle had a 5-0 advantage in shots to open the game as they completely controlled play for the opening seven minutes. Hill had to deliver big stops on Matty Beniers and Vince Dunn to keep the game scoreless as Seattle pressured constantly.
But then the Golden Knights made the Kraken pay for a brief defensive lapse. A 3-on-2 rush chance led to Stephenson beating new defenseman Brian Doumoulin to the back post for a chip-in finish of a great Brett Howden pass for a 1-0 Vegas lead on their first shot on goal of the night.
“They’re a good team in terms of transition and off the rush and we saw that on their first goal,” Hakstol said. “We made a mistake and that was their first opportunity and they made a good play off of the rush.”
Then with just over five minutes left in the opening period, a brutal bounce made it a 2-0 Golden Knights lead. Brandon Tanev collected a puck thrown in front of the Seattle net by Vegas center William Karlsson. Tanev then tried to toss the puck back behind the net from just in front of Grubauer. However, Jonathan Marchessault got his stick on the clearance attempt and deflected it directly behind Grubauer into the Kraken net.
The play happened so quickly it appeared as though Tanev himself had thrown the puck in his own net.
“We had enough scoring chances,” Hakstol said. “Early in the hockey game we execute a little bit better on a couple of them, we had a couple missed nets on a couple real good opportunities. We executed the play really well. We didn’t finish. All of a sudden in a period where we’ve done a lot of good things, we’re coming out of it down 2-0 and now you’re digging out of a deep hole.”
Bryaden McNabb then hit Ivan Barbashev with a fantastic stretch pass to get behind the Kraken defense 80 seconds into the second period. Barbashev snapped a wrist shot by Grubauer for a 3-0 advantage that proved decisive for Vegas.
Jared McCann, whose 40 goals led the team last season, was the first and only scorer of the night for Seattle.
Jordan Eberle’s pass from behind the net deflected off a skate directly to McCann in front. His snap shot cleared the left shoulder of Hill to find the net to get the Kraken on the board.
Pierre-Édouard Bellemare blocked a Shea Theodore shot off his left hand on a Vegas power play in the second period and did not return to the ice until the final nine minutes of the game.
Bellemare’s return came immediately following the loss of Tanev to an illegal hit from Howden with 8:49 left to play. Howden delivered a blindside shoulder to the head of Tanev that knocked him to the ice. Tanev stayed down for a couple of minutes while being attended to by trainers. Howden received a match penalty and a game misconduct for an illegal check to the head that give Seattle a five-minute major penalty power play.
The Kraken got six shots in total on the extended power play chance but were unable to create significant offensive pressure on the man advantage. Since major penalties don’t expire with a goal being scored, Seattle could have used the advantage to fuel a comeback chance.
“I think we had a lot of good chances,” McCann said. “Obviously I think we need to be a little bit better on the breakouts, get in their zone and have control a little bit better. We did have some chances, goalie made some big saves for them. We’re still trying a new look here, just trying to keep building on it.”
Hill delivered another big save on Beniers in the closing minutes before Eichel’s empty net tally sealed the deal for Vegas.
The injuries to Bellemare and Tanev already create some roster concerns for Seattle. Tye Kartye was the lone offensive scratch and could draw into the lineup in place of Tanev for Thursday’s game in Nashville if Tanev is unable to play. However, the Kraken don’t currently have a backup center option on the roster and would potentially need to bring up Shane Wright or John Hayden from AHL Coachella Valley for fill-in duty if Bellemare is unable to go.
