The Vegas Golden Knights are closing on the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division following a 2-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored. Adin Hill made 24 saves for the Golden Knights (48-22-9).
“We're a good team. We've won now 48 games?” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We're not all Picasso, so to speak. But when it's crunch time, I think our guys understand the value of getting the two points in the net. So that was a situation where we needed it because there were times we weren't that clean tonight, which led to some trouble. But when the game's on the line, I believe our guys want to get it done or are willing to get it done and do get it done in many different ways. One of them is sacrificing the puck.”
The Golden Knights can secure the top seed in the Pacific Division with a regulation win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday or a Los Angeles Kings regulation loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
“We still have to fight for our first place,” Barbashev said. “We can't lose games, and I feel like we just got to be prepared for every single game now moving forward and just try to get better and be ready for our playoffs.”
How the Goals Were Scored
Barbashev gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 6:58 of the first period. He scored after the puck landed on the stick after a Brett Howden centering pass deflected off a stick.
Karlsson extended it to 2-0 at 7:56 of the second period after scoring from a Reilly Smith drop pass on the rush. It marked the second game in a row that the Smith-Karlsson connected on a goal.
“Every game, you get a little bit more comfortable [playing together]. I'm not going to say that I'm not thinking out there sometimes, and I'd like to get to that spot,” Smith said. “But right now it helps a lot playing with ‘Karl.’ It seems like every time I don't get the puck out, he's behind me, and he does the job. So just keep on working, keep trying to get better. We have a few more games and, hopefully, get our game to top shape when we get to playoffs.”
Seattle's Jared McCann scored at 17:21 of the second for the 2-1 final.
Up Next
The Golden Knights welcome back former Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault and the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.