Jonathan Marchessault scored, Adin Hill made 23 saves, and the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday night after their banner-raising ceremony.
Conn Smythe Trophy winner Marchessault scored in the first game of the season for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time in seven seasons with Vegas.
Chandler Stephenson, Ivan Barbashev, and Jack Eichel also scored for the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights improved to 6-1-0 in home openers, with their only loss coming in 2018 to Philadelphia. Vegas has outscored their opponents 26-14 in these games.
Jared McCann scored Seattle’s lone goal, and Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves.
Vegas got the scoring started early in the first period when Mark Stone, Brett Howden, and Stephenson played tic-tac-toe in the offensive zone. As they crossed the blue line, Stone went cross-ice to Howden, who sent the puck to the crease, where Stephenson was there to finish.
The Golden Knights made it 2-0 when Seattle’s Brandon Tanev attempted to clear the puck past the goal, but Marchessault redirected it past Grubauer.
Barbashev connected on a breakaway snapper 1:20 into the second period to make it 3-0. Seattle responded midway through the period when McCann’s wrist shot from the slot sailed past Hill.
The Kraken had a prime opportunity midway through the third when Howden was called for a match penalty after delivering a shot to Tanev’s head. However, Hill stood tall, making six saves during the penalty kill, reminiscent of his performance during the Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup run.
“I thought our penalty kill did an excellent job,” Hill said. “It was an area of emphasis during camp to work on being aggressive. We did that tonight, and our penalty kill was outstanding. They had a few looks, but we did a good job limiting them.”
Eichel scored into an empty net with a little more than a minute remaining to seal the victory.
“We had enough scoring chances,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “Early in the game, we could have executed better on some chances. We missed the net on a couple of real good opportunities. Suddenly, in a period where we’ve done many good things, we’re down 2-0. Now we’re digging out of a deep hole. Ultimately, we didn’t capitalize when we had good opportunities, whether 5 on 5 or the power play.”
INJURY UPDATE
Golden Knights forward William Carrier left during the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Seattle forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also left the bench in the second period after blocking a shot with his left hand but returned for the third.
UP NEXT
- Kraken: At Nashville on Thursday night.
- Golden Knights: At San Jose on Thursday night.