The Vegas Golden Knights will try to complete a sweep of their two-game road trip through the Pacific Northwest when they face the high-scoring Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Vegas opened the trip with a 3-2 victory at Vancouver on Sunday, its eighth straight regulation victory over the Canucks, the longest win streak against one team in franchise history.
Fourth-line forward Marc Gatcomb scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, and Adin Hill, making his first start in goal since April 9 last season, made it hold up with an 18-save performance.
“He made some awesome big saves down the stretch there,” forward Mitch Marner, who scored his first goal of the season, said.
“It’s nice to get a win and be back in the net with the guys,” Hill, who played a key goaltending role on the team’s 2023 Stanley Cup-winning team, said. “Had a fun night and keep her going.”
Gatcomb, who scored 11 goals in two seasons with the New York Islanders, tucked a rebound of Braeden Bowman’s wraparound attempt inside the right post for his first goal with the Golden Knights, which proved to be the game-winner.
“It’s great,” Gatcomb said. “You always want to get your first one with a new team out of the way. Ultimately, the goal is to win hockey games and to do anything you can to contribute. That’s not always going to be a score, but anytime you can chip in on the scoresheet it’s great.”
Seattle has sandwiched a pair of 6-1 victories over Calgary around a 3-1 loss at Edmonton and comes off a win over the Flames in its home opener on Sunday.
Right wing Mackie Samoskevich, activated off the injured list after being sidelined with an upper-body injury, scored his first two goals with the Kraken since being acquired in a June trade with the Florida Panthers.
Berkly Catton added a goal and an assist and Joey Daccord made 32 saves for Seattle. Daccord, the object of “Joe-ey, Joe-ey” chants from the home crowd, has stopped 56 of 58 shots in two starts this season.
“It’s the best. It’s like the coolest thing ever,” Daccord said. “This place was electric tonight. I think our whole team fed off the energy. … The place was rocking, and pucks were going in.”
“He played very well for us,” Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said of Daccord. “Certainly, at the start, I thought we gave him a couple (save) opportunities. What it did for us is allowed us to find some rhythm. He held it to zero, and we were able to capitalize on our opportunities.”
It marked the second time in three games that Seattle scored six goals. The Kraken did so just twice in 82 games last season while finishing 28th in the league in scoring with 224 goals (2.73 per game).
“Sometimes it’s hard to gauge why the puck is going in the net in some situations, but certainly I think our guys are shooting the puck well,” Lambert said. “We did quite an emphasis in training camp on trying to make plays under duress and chaos, and I think that helped them as well.”
Seattle won three of the four games against Vegas last season, including both at Climate Pledge Arena. Three of the games were decided by one goal, with the Kraken winning one in overtime and another in a shootout.
