Golden Knights pick up win after raising Stanley Cup banner.
The Vegas Golden Knights started their Stanley Cup title defense with a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist; Mark Stone had two assists. Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Golden Knights.
Adin Hill made 33 saves.
"We weren’t on top of our game early,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “As I said, I’m not surprised. I figured we would get to it eventually when we were good enough. A lot of that had do with Adin early."
The Golden Knights return to the ice Thursday for a game against the San Jose Sharks in San Jose. Calif.
Testing forward depth
The Vegas Golden Knights forward depth will be tested early.
William Carrier did not return to the game after the second period. He sustained an upper-body injury, which Cassidy said will evaluated today.
"When you don’t come back, that usually means it’s a little more serious than a little nick,” he said. “He’ll get looked at tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. Hopefully it’s nothing long term.”
To make matters worse, Brett Howden could hear from Department of Player Safety, who could suspend Howden for his check to the head on Seattle's Brandon Tanev, which put Tanev out of the game.
Howden received a match penalty for the hit.
If Howden is suspended and Carrier will miss extended, Pavel Dorofeyev will slot into the line up and it may open the door for a potential Brendan Brisson debut in the NHL.
Penalty Killers
The Golden Knights were perfect on the penalty kill, limiting the Kraken on their four power plays which included a five-minute match penalty.
"We got away with a couple of mistakes there at the start of a major," Cassidy said. "In general, I thought our structure was good. We got our clears. We were more aggressive."
That's not to say that Seattle didn't have its chances. Hill made 10 saves on the kill, but managed to control his rebounds and freeze the puck at critical moments.
"That helps you on the penalty kill, so good for him for tracking pucks well and getting the whistle, so it gets some fresh legs," Cassidy said.
Mountain of a Man
Hill was spectacular in net again, making it clear that the 1A position in the goalie tandem is his.
The only goal he allowed was a well-placed shot by Jared McCann, but other than that he was stellar stopping the Kraken offense.
Eichel credited Hill for helping keep the game tied early while the team found its footing.
"They came out really well in the first 10 minutes," Eichel said. "'Hilly,' as he does, made some big saves and kept us in it. He bought us [time] to get our feet. We got better as the game went on."