Golden Knights tie it in final seconds, defeat Kraken in OT

SEATTLE -- Jack Eichel scored at 3:01 of overtime, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from down two in the third period to defeat the Seattle Kraken 5-4 at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.

Jonathan Marchessault scored the tying goal with 17 seconds left in the third for Vegas.

In overtime, Alex Pietrangelo chipped the puck over Oliver Bjorkstrand to send Eichel on a breakaway, and he raced in and scored over goalie Philipp Grubauer's left pad.

“It obviously wasn't the ideal start to the third, being up going into the third and then giving them a few goals,” Eichel said. “But we stuck with it, and the desperation was for sure there. And that's what our team needs for the remainder of our year.”

Marchessault had two goals, William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Eichel had two assists for the Golden Knights (35-23-7), who have won two in a row after losing four straight. Adin Hill made 26 saves.

Grubauer made 29 saves for the Kraken (28-24-12), who dropped their second straight.

“It stings to not hold the lead and walk away with two points,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.

Karlsson got the Golden Knights within 4-3 at 12:23 of the third period with a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle. The goal came 53 seconds after Bjorkstrand had given the Kraken a two-goal lead.

“It was a big goal. It gave us life, and now you’ve got … six minutes, and you just need one,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “And this is what happened to us a little bit on our previous road trip. We do this, and then give up the next one, make it 5-3 instead of us hanging in there and giving ourselves a chance at the end. And today we did that better.”

Hakstol said, “A big part [of the loss] is giving up the goal right after going up by two. There's a couple opportunities there to take care of a puck… That obviously changes the complexion of the last six, seven minutes.”

Marchessault found a loose puck off Chandler Stephenson’s stick in the left circle and slapped it past a diving Grubauer at 19:43 to tie it 4-4 and send the game to overtime. It was Marchessault’s fifth goal in two games.

"He's huge for us,” Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev said of Marchessault. “He had a hat trick last game, and he almost had one today as well. But he's one of those guys, he's a leader, he's been here since Day One, and he's a fun guy to be around. He means a lot to this team."

Andre Burakovsky gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 4:14 of the second period, shooting into an open net after Jared McCann cut across the slot and dropped it to Burakovsky in the left circle.

Marchessault tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 6:36, taking a cross-crease feed from Barbashev at the bottom of the left circle and lifting it under the crossbar.

Pavel Dorofeyev gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead at 15:00, scoring within one second of an offensive-zone face-off. Karlsson won the draw to his right, and Dorofeyev one-timed it out of the air and over Grubauer’s glove.

Matty Beniers tied it 2-2 at 1:55 of the third period, tipping a Will Borgen wrist shot from the point through Hill’s five-hole.

Brandon Tanev put the Kraken ahead 3-2 at 5:21, tipping in a shot from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

“There were momentum swings, and we obviously took the lead there in the third,” Beniers said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of making sure we don’t lose that lead and keep the momentum instead of sitting back."

Bjorkstrand pushed it to 4-2 with a breakaway goal at 11:30, receiving a stretch pass from Yanni Gourde at the blue line and scoring glove side on Hill.

“We don’t need fire, we don't need confidence, we’ve got that,” Hakstol said. “We’re disappointed we didn't close the game out, but I’ve said it all the way along, no matter the result, we need everybody to walk out tonight, clear the deck, and come back. There's no time for anything but [that], so we'll get back to work tomorrow.”

NOTES: Marchessault became the first Golden Knights player with five goals in a two-game span. … Marchessault’s second goal was the franchise’s fourth-latest game-tying goal behind Max Pacioretty (59:59 on Nov. 27, 2019), Reilly Smith (59:52 on Jan. 18, 2020) and Mattias Janmark (59:51 on Jan. 2, 2022). … Seattle forward Jordan Eberle played his 1,000th NHL game. He was plus-1 in 19:24.