The Seattle Kraken returned to Las Vegas to face the Vegas Golden Knights, which was the scene of their opening night disappointment, on Tuesday. Seattle looked to get some revenge on one of their new division rivals. Vegas came in following a sour 5–2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday and were looking to get back on their feet.
Making/ their first appearances since early in the season were Kraken goalie Chris Driedger and forward Marcus Johansson. Driedger was injured in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 18, while Johansson was injured opening night against the Golden Knights.
Seattle some out early in the first period and did something that they have rarely done this season, which was score a power play goal. Jordan Eberle narrowly snuck a backhand past Vegas goalie Robin Lehner on a goalmouth scramble. This was only the Kraken’s fourth power play goal of the season, which has them tied for second-worst in the NHL.
Ebs, back at it again with the backhand! 🔥
That’s SEVEN goals in his last seven games! pic.twitter.com/7sFxQj4j7L
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 10, 2021
The celebration and lead almost made it to the first intermission, but Golden Knights star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo walked the blue line and used Jaden Schwartz as a screen to surprise Driedger, sending the teams into the first intermission tied at 1–1.
This was the only period that the Kraken were outshot, with Vegas holding an 11–7 lead. Seattle outshot Vegas 20–12 in the second and third periods, but were outscored 3–1 in the final two periods of play.
In what turned out to be a surprising second period, each team scored in the final minute of play. After some tough work along the boards, Yanni Gourde buried a feed from Brandon Tanev past Lehner with 30 seconds remaining. Just 15 seconds later, though, Vegas veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov poked a fat rebound past Driedger to tie the game at 2–2 heading into the third period.
The Kraken might wish they could have just taken the mulligan and the tie, as Vegas forward Reilly Smith came out and scored two goals in his first shift of the third period to give the home team a comfortable two-goal lead. After 18 more minutes of play, that was how the game ended. The final score was 4–2, and the Kraken dropped another opportunity to make ground in their division.
Anchor points
⚓ This is starting to sound like a broken record, but goaltending failed the Kraken once again. They only surrendered 23 shots, which is ideal, but gave up four goals, which is flat-out bad. They are 10th-best in shots faced, yet they are last in overall save percentage at .871. This needs to be corrected quickly.
⚓ The Kraken were not as good in possession for this game. They led in shot attempts (53% Corsi), but were out-chanced in unblocked shots (48% Fenwick) and high-danger chances (36%). The only reason they were not completely underwater was the line of Johansson, Joonas Donskoi and Morgan Geekie, which was 71% Corsi and 67% Fenwick at 5-on-5.
⚓ The Kraken are off Wednesday and will host the Anaheim Ducks Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.