Seattle Kraken’s NHL debut spoiled by Golden Knights in 4-3 defeat in Las Vegas

Riley Sheahan and the Seattle Kraken open their inaugural season on the road when they face off against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas tonight. (File photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)
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The Seattle Kraken introduced themselves to the world Tuesday night as the NHL expansion franchise played its first-ever regular season game. But the Vegas Golden Knights won the season opener 4-3 to spoil the Kraken’s debut.

GAME RECAP FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS — Max Pacioretty scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights spoiled the Seattle Kraken’s debut with a 4-3 win on Tuesday night.

Vegas, which made its league debut four years ago, held off a rally from the NHL’s latest addition in what turned out to be a scrappy effort from the Kraken.

Seattle erased a 3-0 deficit and tied the game, but Chandler Stephenson’s goal midway through the third period held up.

Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas, while Robin Lehner made 25 saves.

Ryan Donato scored Seattle’s first goal in franchise history, while Jared McCann and Morgan Geekie added goals. Veteran netminder Phillip Grubauer had 18 saves in his first game as a Kraken.

Pacioretty and Marchessault gave the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead on two of Vegas’ first three shots on goal.

The Golden Knights ignited the crowd when Chandler Stephenson took a clean entry into a wide-open neutral zone and picked up momentum and fed captain Mark Stone to send the Kraken one direction while Pacioretty skated down the left side. Stone promptly sent a crisp pass to Pacioretty, who beat Grubauer far side to give Vegas its first goal of the season.

Three minutes later it was one of the original members of the Golden Knights from their expansion season with some crafty stick handling, as Marchessault showed patience by skating in on Grubauer, then deked around him to the goal line before burying the puck to make it 2-0.

Though it appeared Nic Hague extended Vegas’ lead to 3-0 in the second period after taking a beauty of a pass from Stone, his wrist shot was later rewarded to Pacioretty who was at the doorstep for a deflection.

Donato gave the smattering of Kraken fans something to cheer about later in the period when he gathered a loose puck and backhanded past a sprawling Lehner who couldn’t get back in time.

Less than a minute later, McCann’s shot to the crease from the right side trickled just under Lehner’s pad to cut Vegas’ lead to one and breathe life into Seattle’s bench.

Geekie skated into the right circle and beat Lehner top shelf to tie the game in the third period, but moments later Stephenson’s redirect off his skate put Vegas back on top.

Notes: McCann, Marcus Johansson, Jamie Oleksiak, and Joonas Donskoi were all cleared earlier in the day, while forward Calle Jarnkrok remained in the NHL’s COVID-protocol. The Golden Knights improved to 91-0-1 in franchise history when leading by three goals. ... Three goals were scored by those wearing No. 67 (Pacioretty twice and Geekie).

NEXT UP

Seattle: Travels to Nashville to play the Predators on Thursday

Vegas: Plays in Los Angeles on Thursday.

-- The Associated Press

LIVE UPDATES RECAP

Follow along with the latest live updates, including the latest score and stats from the game as well as video highlights and more provided above. Oddsmakers have the Golden Knights as favorites in this one.

Latest line/betting odds:

Moneyline: SEA +220 | VGK -275

Spread: SEA +1.5 | VGK -1.5

O/U: 5.5

HOW TO WATCH

What: The Seattle Kraken play their first ever regular season NHL match on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights to open the 2021 season.

When: Tuesday, October 12 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET

Where: T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada

TV: ESPN

How to watch the game live online for free: You can watch this match live for FREE with fuboTV (free trial). You can also get the draft on Hulu + Live (free trial) or Sling TV (promotional offers) if you are out of fuboTV trials, or simply prefer those platforms and their pricing plans. You can also watch the event live on Watch ESPN with your cable or satellite provider login information.

If you do not have or want to sign up for a cable package, but do want to watch future Kraken games this season, fuboTV is the only major streaming service that will carry Root Sports Northwest, the Seattle Kraken broadcast partner. If you sign up for a free trial of fuboTV tonight, you will be able to watch tonight’s game and possibly some Trail Blazers NBA preseason games while you decide if the service is right for you. Root Sports now has nearly every major Pacific Northwest professional sports teams’ broadcast rights in the region including the Kraken, Blazers, Seattle Mariners and more.

More ways to watch: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast / Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, Cox, DIRECTV, Dish.

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