Golden Knights begin championship defense with win against Kraken

LAS VEGAS -- Adin Hill made 32 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights, who began their Stanley Cup championship defense with a 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

“It was cool seeing the banner go up (in pregame). I haven’t seen a banner with that much detail on it,” Hill said. “We know what we did last year, and we were ready to go tonight. You want to win every game, so it’s one of 82. We got that one checked off the list, and now it’s time to turn our attention.”

Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Mark Stone had two assists for the Golden Knights.

“We weren’t on top of our game early,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “As I said, I’m not surprised. I figured we would get to it eventually when we were good enough. A lot of that had do with Adin early. … We got the saves early that we needed.”

Jared McCann scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for the Kraken.

“There’s no way we’re going to let it go,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We left something on the table today. I’m not disappointed with the overall effort. I think some individuals can have a better night. We’ve got to take some things out of this, improve on them, and get right back at it in two nights (against the Nashville Predators).”

Stephenson gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the first period when he cut to the net and finished a backdoor pass from Brett Howden on a rush.

Jonathan Marchessault made it 2-0 at 14:57, deflecting in an errant clearing attempt by Brandon Tanev.

“We got a few fortunate bounces, which was awesome,” Stone said. “It kind of got us into a bit of a groove and got the 2-0 lead and kind of settled us in. I don’t think we were great for the first five, 10 minutes. But once we started settling in, I thought we took over the second half of the first.”

Ivan Barbashev extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:20 of the second period. He received a stretch pass from Brayden McNabb and roofed a shot over Grubauer's glove on a breakaway.

McCann got Seattle to within 3-1 at 8:19. He scored over Hill's left shoulder from the low slot after Jordan Eberle's pass, which was intended for Justin Schultz, deflected to him off the skate of Marchessault.

Jack Eichel scored an empty-net goal at 18:45 of the third period for the 4-1 final.

The win capped off a whirlwind few days for Vegas, which received its championship rings on Sunday and was on hand for "Monday Night Football" between the Las Vegas Raiders and Green Bay Packers.

“We had a lot of things going on in your life, and try to enjoy what we accomplished and prepare for a season. So you try to balance both,” Eichel said. “It’s an amazing experience to watch a banner go up. You want to enjoy every moment.”

NOTES: Tanev left the game at 6:02 of the third period after being hit by Howden, who was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head on the play. Hakstol did not have an update postgame. ... Golden Knights forward William Carrier left at 7:09 of the second period with an upper-body injury. “When you don’t come back, that usually means it’s a little more serious than a little nick,” Cassidy said. “He’ll get looked at tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. Hopefully it’s nothing long term.” ... Vegas has won five straight season openers, the longest active streak in the NHL.