Golden Knights 6-2 Kraken (December 21, 2024) Game Recap

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone scored a goal and two assists and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken 6-2 on Saturday night.

After falling behind 1-0 less than three minutes into the game, the Golden Knights scored three unanswered goals in the first period and never relinquished the lead.

After Keegan Kolesar tied the game at 1-1, Brett Howden received Jack Eichel’s pass behind the net and beat Philipp Grubauer on the doorstep to give Vegas a one-goal lead. Nic Hague’s goal later in the quarter gave Vegas a 3-1 lead.

William Karlsson and Noah Hanifin also added goals in the third period and Ilya Samsonov stopped 21 shots to improve to 8-3-1. Eichel finished the game with two assists.

Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz scored for Seattle, while Grubauer made 29 saves and fell to 3-10-0.

Takeaways

Kraken: Center Chandler Stephenson returned to Vegas for the first time since signing with Seattle as a free agent in the offseason. Stephenson is the only NHL player to win the Stanley Cup twice in Las Vegas: he won with Washington at T-Mobile Arena in 2018 and again with the Knights in 2023.

Golden Knights: Vegas has won three straight and seven of eight games in December. With the win, the Knights (47) are now four points ahead of Los Angeles (43) in the Pacific Division and two points behind Western Conference leader Winnipeg (49).

Key moment

Kolesar was trailing 1-0 and received a cross-ice pass from Victor Olofsson, which led him perfectly to the breakaway. Kolesar’s shot over Grubauer’s glove gave him his eighth goal of the season, the highest of his career.

Key statistics

Seattle is now 1-17-1 when trailing after two periods, while Vegas improved to 12-1-0 after the first 40 minutes when leading.

Next

The Knights host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. The Kraken visits the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL