Golden Knights win third straight, spoil Kraken's home opener

SEATTLE -- Adin Hill made 31 saves in his first start for the Vegas Golden Knights, a 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, and Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist for Vegas (3-0-0), which was beginning a four-game road trip.
The Golden Knights 3-0-0 for the third time in their six seasons and 5-0-0 all-time against the Kraken.
"We've gotten off to a good start," said Hill, who was traded to the Golden Knights by the San Jose Sharks on Aug 29. "We have a good group of guys in here playing a good structured game right now, keeping chances to a minimum and it's exciting. It's fun and hopefully, we can keep it rolling."
Martin Jones, who was making his second straight start, allowed five goals on 22 shots for Seattle (1-1-1), which lost its home opener for the second straight season. Philipp Grubauer replaced Jones to start the third period and made six saves.
"We dug ourselves a hole right off the bat," Kraken forward Jordan Eberle said. "Down 2-0 really quick, it's just a lack of being ready, I think. You're trying to push back and get it. I thought we were creating in little O-zone shifts but we were maybe too dangerous and that gave them opportunities that came back the other way. Those are nights where it is really frustrating … we weren't really helping out goalie out with odd-man rushes."

Keegan Kolesar gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the first period. William Carrier stole the puck inside the Seattle blue line and sent it to a wide-open Kolesar.
Vegas made it 2-0 at 3:07 on a power-play goal from Marchessault, who tapped in a cross-ice pass from Alex Pietrangelo.
"A good start was something that we wanted to focus on after the last game," Theodore said. "We started poorly and made a lot of turnovers, so being up 2-0 early in the game, that kind of set the tone, and I thought we kind of jumped on them from there."
Reilly Smith scored on the power play to make it 3-0 at 13:55 of the second period, and Marchessault extended the lead to 4-0 at 17:11 when he banked a shot off Jones.
Theodore made it 5-0 at 19:43 with a wrist shot from the blue line.
"Getting the other team on their heels and we're able to score early, that always helps," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Special teams were good ... That helps you get the power play going for us and extend leads. So, a lot of good tonight."

Justin Schultz scored his first goal with the Kraken to make it 5-1 at 13:19 of the third period.
Jaden Schwartz cut the lead to 5-2 with a power-play goal at 16:17.
"We weren't sharp with the puck, right from the start of the game," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We were stuck in quicksand for the first 10 minutes of this game. Once we steadied our game a little bit we just didn't execute with the puck. There were a number of opportunities that we gave them in transition right off of our tape. … They killed us on transition, especially in the second period."
NOTES:Jones made the first penalty shot save in Kraken history when he denied Chandler Stephenson's attempt in the second period. The only other penalty shot against Seattle was on Jan. 21, 2022, when St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko scored against Joey Daccord. … Kolesar's goal 12 seconds into the game is the second-fastest goal in Vegas history. William Karlsson scored a goal in 10 seconds on April 28, 2021, in a 5-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche. … Schwartz played his 600th NHL game. … Matty Beniers had an assist on Schultz's goal to give him 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 13 NHL games. He is the seventh rookie in League history to have a point in at least 12 of his first 13 games.