Game Within Reach Gets Out of Hand

LAS VEGAS – The Kraken jumped out to a 1-0 lead Saturday night less than three minutes into the game, with Chandler Stephenson earning an assist even before Vegas could play a tribute video for the ex-Golden Knight at the first TV timeout. The fans forgave him for his hand in the early goal, roaring when the video finished with local fan favorite “Stevie” hoisting the Stanley Cup after Vegas won it on home ice in 2023.

Stephenson won a faceoff in the offensive zone to begin an early power play. The puck went from Vince Dunn to Oliver Bjorkstrand, who faked a snapshot while skating goal-ward at the right faceoff dot, instead curling and spinning to backhand a pass back to Dunn near the blue line. Dunn hammered a shot past VGK goalie Ilya Samsanov, who was clearly disrupted by alternate captain Jaden Schwartz' standing in front of him just outside the crease.

It was a good start for a Seattle squad that needed one. Soon after the opening goal, Stephenson had a shorthanded breakaway attempt he couldn’t convert during a penalty kill and Eeli Tolavanen hit a post to build hope for a multi-goal lead. But the game, which stayed within reach for 40 minutes, concluded with a 5-2 Vegas victory to even the season series. The Kraken are now 15-18-2 with a final road game at Colorado (5 p.m. puck drop) Sunday before the holiday break.

“We started strong, had a chance to make it two-nothing,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “But we made critical mistakes on both the first and second goal [one giveaway, other slow shift change] to give them great opportunities. I don't think necessarily after the first goal, but after the second goal, we, we took some time to get back on focus, back on task. They took it to us for amount of time.”

For his part, Stephenson was appreciative (“it exceeded expectations)] of the Vegas crowd’s noise and love for him. Staying on the ice during the first TV timeout to raise his stick in thanks. But the veteran center was focused post-game on the result.

“We’re just kind of shooting ourselves in the foot right now,” said Stephenson, who assisted on both Kraken goals. “We have to be a little bit better defensively and eliminate their chances ... I thought there were a couple of opportunities tonight that we could have put in, and maybe it's a little bit different game. We're not playing the way that we want to play right now.”

Vegas Goals in Triplicate

Instead, Vegas replied with a pair of goals just over a minute apart in the 13^th and 14^th minutes of the opening frame. Vegas added a third goal in a five-minute span to turn a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead at the first intermission. After the third goal, teammates and newly minted linemates Eeli Tolvanen and Stephenson went to the goal crease to Grubauer for encouraging stick-taps on the goaltender’s legs pad before commencing the faceoff at center ice. The shot from third-pair defenseman Nicolas Hague appeared to deflect off the skate of Schwartz who was prone on ice looking to block the shot.

Vegas finished the first period with 11 shots and goals by Brett Howden (his 13^th) and former Western Hockey League Seattle Thunderbirds standout Keegan Kolesar, who matched a career-high with his eighth goal of the year. Kolesar scored eight goals in each of the last two seasons and seven goals in 2021-21. Superstar Jack Eichel assisted on the second and third goals, making it 35 assists and 44 total points on the year.

Staying Within Two Goals

Despite managing just one shot in the first 12-and-a-half minutes of the middle period, then adding a lone shot during a power play before the 15-minute mark, the Kraken kept the game at 3-1 with some stellar saves by Grubauer, especially two later-period Grade-A stops on William Karlsson and Eichel looking for his third point of the night. The Kraken with six shots in frame but no high-danger chances.

Pre-game, coach Dan Bylsma addressed whether maybe Kraken players were pressing or perhaps overthinking on their shifts due to three straight losses and just two goals in those games.

“I can say that's probably a little bit of what is going into it,” said Bylsma. “You can see that in certain individuals’ play that, whether they're not having success, whether the teams is not having success. They’re ultra-focused on what they can do [to generate scoring chances and how they can do it better. When you start thinking that way, you can get to not moving your feet, not skating and playing a stationary game. That goes for the group as well. When you're predictable to each other, when you're on the same page, when you're connected, that allows you to play fast, when you're thinking about if you're on the same page, if you're thinking about what the next guy is going to do, it can bring your game to a halt.”

Kraken Near-Miss, Then Vegas Strikes

The third produced an early prime scoring chance for Oliver Bjorkstrand, with Vegas’ Samsanov making a quality stop that caromed off him and just barely cleared the crossbar and flipped up to the netting on top of the goal. A minute later, Grubauer made another strong save, but the game got away from Seattle when Vegas scored a fourth goal when Grubauer handled a puck behind the net but didn’t appear to get set for what came next: a centering pass off the wall to Karlsson, who finally beat Grubauer after two previous choice chances the Kraken goalie stopped.

Vegas added a fifth goal before Jaden Schwartz scored his ninth of the year on a net-front rebound, with Stephenson getting his second assist of the night while Shane Wright earned the primary assist. Both Kraken goals were tallied on the power play. The Golden Knights finished the scoring with an empty-net goal from Mark Stone for the 6-2 final.

When asked if the two power play goals provided any encouragement, Bylsma recognized some positives without overstating them. Officially, Seattle was two-for-four during man-advantage, but one power play opportunity was roughly a minute due to overlapping penalties.

“You have to make it a positive, the power play and penalty kill [Vegas held scoreless in one attempt, and the Kraken have killed eight-of-nine in the last four games]. It's a big part of the game. The power plan got a chance early on, stepped up and got us a big goal to start the game ... Those are things you have to bring with you, game in and game out.

Bylsma said it can help to be playing again Sunday with a puck drop 20 hours from Saturday’s game end. “When you talk about being connected, one mistake, two mistakes in a game, it can't throw you off your confidence, confidence in each other, confidence in the team. That's something we we have to get better at ... You don't want to dwell on [the Vegas loss]. We talk about dealing with the highs and lows with this group. We don't want you to dwell too high on the highs. You don't want to dwell on the lows and lows ... we got pumped in this building tonight, and we’ve got a chance tomorrow to rectify that.”