Golden Knights defeat Kraken, maintain lead in Pacific Division

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights maintained their lead in the Pacific Division with a 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Michael Amadio (two goals, one assist) and Reilly Smith (one goal, two assists) each had three points, and Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves for Vegas (50-22-9), which is 4-0-3 in its past seven games.
The Golden Knights remained two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific heading into the regular-season finale at Seattle on Thursday. The Oilers won 2-1 in overtime against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday and finish up their regular season at home Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.
"(Playing a meaningful game Thursday) is good for us," Smith said. "Sometimes, you take foot off the gas and start the playoffs maybe a step behind. There's no reason for that. A lot on the line. I'm looking forward to the game Thursday."
Yanni Gourde scored, and Joey Daccord made 33 saves for Seattle (46-27-8), which had won five in a row.
The Kraken would have moved into a tie for third place in Pacific with the Los Angeles Kings with a victory. The Kings play their regular-season finale Thursday at the Anaheim Ducks.
"We're not happy with the result; not a lot energy tonight," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "We had a good burst for probably the first 15, 16 minutes. We just couldn't find any energy in the second and third. They played well. They were on top of us. They didn't give us a lot of time and space. When you're a half-step slow and not a ton of energy, it was a tough night to generate anything with the puck."
Amadio gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the first period. William Karlsson carried the puck into the offensive zone and moved the puck to Smith in the right face-off circle, where he quickly sent a cross-ice feed to Amadio for a tap-in.
"I put myself at a bad angle. At the same time, I saw 'Ammo' drifting in backdoor," Smith said. " … It hit a couple skates and sticks, and fortunately it landed on his stick."

Gourde tied it 1-1 at 9:06 with a wrist shot from the right circle after Smith turned it over in the neutral zone.
Amadio scored again at 2:00 of the second period, crashing the net and tapping in a pass from Smith to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead.
Smith made it 3-1 at 14:48. Daccord made the initial save on Amadio's backhand, but Smith tapped in the rebound.
Vegas outshot Seattle 16-9 in the second.
"You need that element of [crashing the net]," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. "When Ammo's done it, he's been rewarded. It's just a reminder to do it every day. Ammo comes up as a junior guy and minor pro, he's the guy making the play to the guy to the net. Now the shoe's on the other foot. So, he has to be that guy who goes there, and he' s bought into it well.
"Give him credit for changing what he has to do to complement a line."

Jonathan Marchessault scored during a two-man advantage at 3:23 of the third period, one-timing a pass from Alex Pietrangelo for the 4-1 final.
"We're trending in the right direction right," Smith said. "Obviously, important with playoffs right around the corner. It's good for us, playing teams that are competitive right now.
"We have another tough game against Seattle coming up. We have no reason to take our foot off the gas, so it's good for this group. We're having different people scoring and different people contributing on a nightly basis. Hopefully we have a lot of steam going into the playoffs."
NOTES: Cassidy became the first coach in NHL history to win 50 games in consecutive seasons with different teams. He went 51-26-5 with the Boston Bruins last season. … Vegas forward Jack Eichel missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. … It was Amadio's second two-goal game in the NHL and first since Feb. 17, 2018, while playing for the Kings against the Buffalo Sabres. … Kraken forward Jared McCann had his three-game goal streak and five-game point streak end. He could have become the first player in Seattle history to have multipoint games in four straight.