Kaapo Kakko scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Joey Daccord made 27 saves to lead the Seattle Kraken to their fourth straight victory, 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann also scored goals and Chandler Stephenson had two assists for Seattle, which moved to within three points of the Golden Knights and Edmonton for first place in the Pacific Division. It was just the second victory at T-Mobile Arena in team history for Seattle, which went 10-5-2 in the month of January.
Ivan Barbashev and Mitch Marner scored goals and Jack Eichel had a pair of assists for Vegas, which lost its fourth straight game and its sixth in seven contests. Akira Schmid finished with 20 saves.
Seattle took a 1-0 lead at the 6:50 mark of the first period when Tolvanen chipped in a rebound of a Ryan Winterton shot over the left pad of Schmid. It marked the seventh straight home game that the Golden Knights allowed the first goal.
The Kraken made it 2-0 with less than seven minutes left in the first on a power-play goal by McCann, who one-timed a Vince Dunn pass from the right circle past Schmid’s glove side for his 200th career goal and 10th in the month of January, tying the team record for most goals in a month set in Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs by Matty Beniers.
Vegas cut the lead in half midway through the second period on a goal by Barbashev, who drilled in an Eichel pass from the right side of the crease.
Marner tied it just before the end of the period with a power-play goal, roofing a wrist shot from the high slot past a Tomas Hertl screen.
Kakko put the Kraken back in front 3:18 into the third period when with a backhand shot in the slot past Schmid’s glove side.
Vegas pulled Schmid for an extra attacker with a minute to go but Adam Larsson blocked a rebound try by Hertl on the edge of the crease and Daccord made saves on a pair of shots by Eichel and a slap shot by Marner to seal the win.
–Field Level Media
