The Vegas Golden Knights handed the Seattle Kraken their sixth consecutive loss on Thursday, and rode a pair of late goals to an important 3-1 victory. Jack Eichel opened the scoring for Vegas in the first period, and from 11:46 of the first to 6:31 of the third period it remained 1-0.
Late in the third period the Seattle Kraken found the back of the net on the power play to make it 1-1, and it looked like both sides would be heading to overtime to fight for an extra point. Enter Keegan Kolesar who put the Golden Knights ahead with 1:20 left in regulation to make it a 2-1 game.
The goal was Kolesar’s sixth of the season, and both Brett Howden and Nic Roy picked up helpers on the play. Chandler Stephenson officially put the game away with his 15th goal of the season with 12 seconds remaining, a goal that was both an empty-net goal and power-play goal at the same time which isn’t something you see all that often.
Logan Thompson made 21 saves on the evening, and the lone puck the beat him was an aforementioned power play strike. The win was the 50th of his career, and it was good for him to reach this early career milestone.
Vegas improved to 37-25-7 in the win, and sit with 81 points in the second Wild Card spot. They also have a game in hand on the teams chasing them for that spot, and that gives them a little extra breathing room.
The Los Angeles Kings sit in third place in the Pacific with 83 points in 69 games, and it is possible that Vegas slots back into a divisional playoff spot before the season concludes. The Golden Knights are off on Friday, and will close out the homestand on Saturday vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets before starting a four-game road trip.