Kraken Rally, But VGK Scores Late

The Kraken and Vegas wore their commemorative Winter Classic jerseys Thursday, but the result wasn’t nearly as satisfying as New Year’s Day. Vegas downed Seattle, 3-1, on the first night of a back-to-back road trip that relocates to Tempe, AZ, to face the Coyotes Friday.

Down 1-0 after two periods, the Kraken rallied with a Jaden Schwartz tip-in goal off a shot from rookie Ryker Evans to tie matters later in the third period when most fans here in Vegas were suddenly worrying about their team’s slim lead in the Western Conference wild-card standings. But the Vegas fourth line delivered with 80 seconds remaining when the home squad needed it most, with Brett Howden driving the net and former Seattle Thunderbirds star ramming in the loose puck in front of Philipp Grubauer, whose night’s performance deserved better than falling to another last-game score from division rival Vegas.

The Kraken challenged the Kolesar goal for possible offside, which was apparently too close to call for the Situation Room back in Toronto, so the goal stood. Post-game, Dave Hakstol said he thought the play was offside (“really close, tight play”) and he would make the same call again. Even with a penalty for delay of game, Seattle almost managed to send the game to overtime when a Jared McCann pass net-front just eluded Matty Beniers in front of a gaping net. Vegas bagged an empty-net goal seconds later.

Seattle finished the night 13 points behind Vegas, which remains in the second wild-card spot, while St. Louis kept pace by winning in Ottawa, staying four points back. Nashville shut out high-flying Florida and are now 18 points ahead of Seattle in the wild-card standings.

“Our effort was good,” said Hakstol. “We battled really hard all night, fought back to tie the game up, stayed with it on the powerplay in order to do that. The effort from start to finish was complete.”

Eichel Strikes Again

Last seen by Kraken fans scoring an overtime game-winning goal during the recent homestand at Climate Pledge Arena, Vegas center Jack Eichel opened the scoring by getting net-front and staying there during a behind-the-net move by Vegas’ Jonathan Marchessault with Kraken starting goalie Philipp Grubauer sliding side to side. Grubauer stopped Marchessault’s original shot, with the VGK forward retrieving the puck and sending it back toward the crease, where Eichel finished the scoring play.

Grubauer Keeps It Close

Despite the clunky Vegas goal that bounded off the back of Philipp Grubauer’s leg, the Kraken goaltender was stellar in the first 40 minutes and a big reason why Seattle entered the second intermission only down 1-0. Grubauer faced 10 Grade-A scoring chances (five in each period, per Natural Stat Trick) and his play elicited a couple, three head-shakes from Vegas forwards in disbelief that their close-in shots did not get past Grubauer. Vegas notched 11 shots on goal in the first period and another dozen in Period 2 with a particularly impressive series of saves on late second-period power plays. Eichel logged six shots over the two frames, and Marchessault added three more. Grubauer made 34 saves.

Schwartz Returns to Lineup

Kraken veteran forward Jaden Schwartz last played March 8, leaving the game in a home loss to Winnipeg after playing a vital role in beating those same Jets two nights earlier. He’s been missed by his teammates, coaches, and fans who appreciate Schwartz’s little plays that often turn into big goals.

The alternate captain proved the point with an exclamation mark, scoring with six-and-a-half minutes left in the third period, tipping in a timely and accurate spinning shot from rookie Ryker Evans at the right point. Schwartz showed plenty of emotion, given the team’s record during his four games out with injury and that Feb. 19 was the last time he scored a goal.

“It was a back-and-forth game,” said Schwartz after the game. “Both goalies played good; it could have gone either way. It would have been nice to take that in overtime. But I thought we did a lot of good things, the energy was good. We worked hard.”

Schwartz talked Wednesday morning about his disappointment in not being able to contribute during a homestand that ended with a 0-4-1.

“Obviously, not being where we want to be in the standings, it’s frustrating,” said Schwartz. “It's not ideal, and consistency is something you need over such a long schedule. We had that one big winning streak [11-0-2], but we haven't been able to rattle off many winning streaks. I think our effort’s there a lot of nights. There's obviously been a couple games [with lesser effort over 60 minutes) but execution and a couple of little mistakes [in games] have ended up biting us.”