Mark Stone had a goal and two assists and Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden each added a goal and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights cruised to their third straight win, 6-2 over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Nicolas Hague, William Karlsson and Noah Hanifin also scored goals and Jack Eichel dished off a pair of assists for Pacific Division-leading Vegas, which won for the 13th time in 16 home games.
Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves for the Golden Knights, who improved to 18-3-2 against the Western Conference, the best mark in the NHL, with their seventh win in their past eight games.
Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz scored goals and Chandler Stephenson had two assists for Seattle, which dropped its fourth straight game. Philipp Grubauer finished with 28 saves.
Seattle, which had scored a total of just two goals in its previous three games, jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 2:34 mark on a power-play goal by Dunn, who ripped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Samsonov’s glove side. It marked the fifth consecutive game that the Golden Knights, who had vowed during the week to improve their slow starts, allowed the first goal.
Vegas then took control with three goals in the span of a little over five minutes. Kolesar got the first at the 12:39 mark when he took a stretch pass from Victor Olofsson and broke down the right wing and roofed a wrist shot over Grubauer’s left shoulder for his eighth goal of the season, tying his career high.
Howden put the Golden Knights in front 71 seconds later. Eichel stole the puck from Dunn in the right corner and then passed to Howden cutting down the slot where he put a wrist shot past Grubauer.
Hague made it 3-1 at the 17:48 mark with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle past Grubauer’s glove side.
The Golden Knights broke the game open midway through the third period with goals by Karlsson, who redirected a Kolesar pass with a between-the-legs shot while cutting in front of the crease, and Hanifin, who one-timed a Stone pass from the left circle past Grubauer’s glove side.
Schwartz cut it to 5-2 with 6:02 remaining with a power-play goal. The Kraken pulled Grubauer for an extra attacker with 2:15 left and Stone sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:09 to go.
–Field Level Media
