FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Kraken - Game 22 - 2022

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Kraken – Game 22 – 2022

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (16-5-1)  | Seattle Kraken  (12-5-3)

The Pacific division battle between the last two expansion teams becomes a wake-up call for the Golden Knights as they lose 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken for the first time. 

The record the Golden Knights have so far is proven and earned as well, but going against tough and upcoming potential playoff teams, the Knights have struggled. Last night at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights had something to prove to an upcoming team in the Pacific Division, the Seattle Kraken. 

The matchup between the top two teams in the Pacific Division and the two recent expansion teams in the NHL was a true test of will between the teams. Just in their second year, the Seattle Kraken going into this game, had won three straight games but had never defeated the Golden Knights. Adin Hill started in net for the Knights as he went head to head against Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer, who started in the net for the first time after missing 11 games due to a lower-body injury.

Just over two minutes into the first period, the opposing Seattle got on the board when Ryan Donato scored a quick one-timer shot to put the Kraken up 1-0—seeing the opposing team strike first usually does not happen in The Fortress.

The first period is usually when the Knights take the momentum on the offensive side, but not today. Seattle increased their lead 2-0 after Andre Burakovsky scored on a wrist shot passing through the five-hole of Adin Hill. 

The first period didn’t look good for Vegas, but luck came to their aid when the Knights finally got on the power play due to a tripping call on Justin Schultz. The power play would pay off for the Knights’ special team unit. They got on the board 1-0 when Nicolas Roy scored after jamming the puck into the net from a rebound.

Vegas needed to build off that momentum. The Knights would make it an even game after Phil Kessel got his fourth goal of the season, scoring on Grubauer’s blocker side from the bottom to tie the game 2-2.

Vegas was dominated by the Kraken throughout the game, getting outshot 28-22

The Seattle Kraken dominated that period, outshooting the Knights 8-2. The second period was no different when Andre Burakovsky got his second goal of the night after shooting from the right side of the faceoff dot to give the Kraken the lead of 3-2.

Vegas could not fix their second-period woes, even though they had successfully killed off a Seattle power play due to Zach Whitecloud’s slashing penalty.

But this did not stop the offensive fury from the Kraken as they increased their lead to two goals after Jordan Eberle scored from his rebound after Adin Hill made a lunging stick save to stop him on his initial backhand attempt. The score was 4-2 in favor of the Kraken. 

After two periods of play, the Kraken had outshot the Golden Knights 21-16 and had 48 shot attempts, with the Knights only having 30 shot attempts.

In the third period, the Knights could not get any opportunities on offense or create any power plays. The Knights suffered their first loss to the Seattle Kraken, losing 4-2.

“They were quicker than us, they won a lot more races, one-on-one battles, they executed better than us, they were just the better team,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Let’s call it what it is; from start to finish, they outplayed us. We can look at different areas and why and what, but we weren’t ready to play. That always falls on the coach. I gotta get the guys ready to play.”

It could have been a food coma from Thanksgiving that gave the Knights problems last night, but getting outscored and defeated by a team in the same division is certainly a wake-up call. Even though the Knights beat Seattle earlier this season, the Kraken is a much different team from last month. Especially since they are second in the Pacific Division, but despite the Knights’ record and high standing in the Pacific Division and league overall, Vegas has yet to beat a legit good team yet. The Knights need to find ways to close out games against good teams to contend for a potential Stanley Cup this year.

The Golden Knights will debut their Reverse Retro jerseys at The Fortress when they play against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. They are scheduled to drop the puck at 7:00 pm. The game can be seen on  AT&T Sports Net (channel 313 on Cox Cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.