Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson each scored to help the Vegas Golden Knights edge the Seattle Kraken 2-1 on Thursday night, taking another key step toward clinching the Pacific Division crown.
Vegas would have locked up the division with a win and a Kings loss, but Los Angeles stayed in contention by defeating Anaheim 6-1. The Golden Knights now hold a six-point lead over the Kings, with three games remaining to L.A.’s four. Vegas can secure the division title with one regulation win or a regulation loss by the Kings over that span, which would also ensure home-ice advantage through at least the first two playoff rounds.
Adin Hill turned away 24 shots for Vegas in another solid performance.
Seattle’s lone goal came in bizarre fashion. Jordan Eberle rang a shot off the left post and followed his rebound, sliding into the net. While he was down, Jared McCann tapped in the puck from the right post for the Kraken’s only goal. Joey Daccord finished with 23 saves.
Tomas Hertl returned to the Golden Knights lineup after missing several games with an upper-body injury suffered on March 23. He did not register a shot in his return.
Vegas has now gone 9-2-1 over its past 12 games.
Game Takeaways
Kraken: Seattle generated 10 high-danger scoring chances in the first two periods but came up empty. They failed to register any such opportunities in the third, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Golden Knights: Hill remained steady in net and is now 12-3-1 in his last 16 starts, continuing to anchor Vegas during its division push.
Key Moment
With just 17 seconds remaining, Brayden McNabb made a clutch defensive play by keeping the puck out of the net during a 6-on-5 Kraken advantage, preventing what could’ve been a game-tying goal as Hill was late to slide over.
Key Stat
Vegas improved to 18-4-1 against Pacific Division opponents this season. All three of its remaining regular-season games are also against divisional foes.
Up next
Kraken: Return home to face the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Golden Knights: Host the Nashville Predators in their final regular-season home game that night.
