Keegan Kolesar scored the game-winner on a rebound with 1:20 remaining as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Brett Howden set up Kolesar’s goal with a rush down the left wing and a shot that caromed to Kolesar on the right side of the crease. Kolesar then scooped the puck into the net for his sixth goal of the season.
Chandler Stephenson sealed the win with an empty-netter with 10.5 seconds left and Jack Eichel also scored for Vegas, which moved to within two points of the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights also maintained their four-point lead over the St. Louis Blues in the chase for the second Western Conference wild card.
Logan Thompson finished with 21 saves and Brayden McNabb added a pair of assists for Vegas, which won for just the third time in its last nine home games.
Jaden Schwartz scored and Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves for Seattle, which lost its sixth straight game (0-5-1).
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 8:14 mark of the first period on Eichel’s 22nd goal of the season. Jonathan Marchessault set the score up with a pass from behind the net into the crease, where Eichel jammed the puck inside the right post. It was his third goal and ninth point over the past six games.
The Kraken, held to just two shots on goal over the first 13 minutes of the third period, tied it 1-1 with 6:31 left on a power-play goal. Schwartz deflected a right point shot by Ryker Evans past Thompson — his 12th goal and first since Feb. 19.
Seattle nearly took the lead 90 seconds later, but Eeli Tolvanen’s spinning wrist shot from the slot ricocheted off the right post.
Kolesar then scored the go-ahead goal, which was unsuccessfully challenged by the Kraken for being offside.
–Field Level Media
