Joey Daccord skated in a circle, his goalie stick raised high, as fans chanted his name in unison. The young Seattle Kraken goaltender had just shut out the defending Stanley Cup champions on one of the NHL’s biggest stages.
“It’s truly the coolest thing in the world to have that support from them,” Daccord said.
Daccord made 35 saves in his second career shutout, Eeli Tolvanen contributed a goal and an assist, and the Kraken beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Monday in the Winter Classic.
A crowd of 47,313 at T-Mobile Park witnessed the Kraken dominate the reigning champions in a matchup of the league’s last two expansion teams. Seattle improved to 7-0-2 in its past nine games, continuing its climb into playoff contention after a rough start to the season.
“To have the opportunity to do this in this ballpark, in front of our home fans, get the result that everybody wanted makes it pretty special, and that’s the best way to remember this event,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
Tolvanen scored his 10th goal of the season by redirecting Vince Dunn’s shot from the blue line early in the first period. He then assisted on Will Borgen’s slap shot that beat Vegas goalie Logan Thompson early in the second period.
Yanni Gourde extended Seattle’s lead to 3-0 just 2:10 into the third period with an effort play, stealing the puck from Paul Cotter at the blue line and poking it into the net after Thompson missed an attempt to sweep the puck away.
However, the standout player for Seattle was Daccord, who appeared to be establishing himself as the Kraken’s top option on the net.
“You always talk about goalies and what an outstanding goalie is, and the best way to describe it is he saves the ones he needs to, and then he saves one or two more that he shouldn’t save. And that’s what he’s done for us basically every game,” Seattle center Matty Beniers said.
Daccord recorded the first shutout in a Winter Classic and the fifth overall in the NHL’s 39 outdoor games since 2003. The Kraken is 6-0-2 in Daccord’s past eight starts, and this was his second shutout in the last three weeks after blanking Florida on Dec. 12.
Daccord made the routine saves look easy and stood firm when the Golden Knights threatened. Jack Eichel had a great opportunity late in the first period off a turnover by Brian Dumoulin, but Daccord made a solid save with his left pad.
Mark Stone hit the post with a redirected shot late in the second. Eichel hit the crossbar with seven minutes left and was robbed on a glove save by Daccord a few minutes later.
As he didn’t get a chance to shoot toward the empty Vegas net in the closing seconds, the glove save was the moment that stood out most for Daccord.
Played in almost perfect conditions with partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the 40s, and the retractable roof of T-Mobile Park wide open, the Kraken rewarded a sellout crowd with one of their most complete performances of the season.
After Tolvanen put Seattle in front, Borgen made it 2-0 with his first goal since Game 4 of last season’s first-round playoff series against Colorado.
Seattle’s nine-game point streak is the longest in franchise history, surpassing an eight-game win streak last season.
Vegas lost for the fifth time in six games and struggled to generate many good scoring chances against Seattle.
“I thought we’d be better, to be honest with you,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It got to be 2-0, and we didn’t have the urgency required early on. By the time we got it, we’re chasing the game, which has happened to us lately. I’m disappointed we weren’t better out of the gate.”
The Golden Knights arrived for the game in Elvis costumes, but their performance lacked the showmanship of “The King.”
The star of the afternoon was Seattle’s young goalie.
“It was something that I’ll never forget and probably one of the coolest days of my whole life,” Daccord said.
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: Host Florida on Thursday in a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup final.
- Kraken: Host Ottawa on Thursday.