Golden Knights nearing top seed in Pacific Division with 2-1 win

The Vegas Golden Knights moved within one regulation win away from clinching the top 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, while Adin Hill made 24 saves for the Golden Knights (48-22-9), who maintained a six-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings in the division.

The Golden Knights will play the Nashville Predators on Saturday and can clinch the division’s No. 1 seed with a regulation win or a Kings regulation loss against 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.”

Smith-Karlsson Connection

Many Golden Knights fans still remember the connection Karlsson and Smith had from the first six seasons. They were an inseparable penalty kill duo and started the clinching game against the Florida Panthers in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Smith was the primary assist on Karlsson’s game-winning goal, and the two continued wreaking havoc on the penalty kill.

For Smith, it took a little bit of time to get back to finding comfort with his former linemate, but the two seem to be rounding into form.

“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.”

Golden Knights Health

Nicolas Hague (illness), Victor Olofsson (illness), Alex Pietrangelo (illness), and Jack Eichel (upper body) all missed the game against the Kraken.

All are day-to-day, but Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said that the team must get healthy before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but added that it’s a good thing for some of the reserves to get some playing time such as defensemen Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak.

“We’ll take the positive of getting other guys in and feeling good about themselves, helping the team win, but let’s hopefully get [the illness and injuries] behind us as quickly as possible” Cassidy said.

The Golden Knights will have an optional skate Friday in hopes to getting the bug out of the locker room.

Chaos Ending

The Kraken pulled goalie Joey Daccord with 1:57 left in the game, and pressured the Golden Knights until the final horn sounded.

The final sequence saw multiple Golden Knights crash the net as the puck neared the net. Defenseman Brayden McNabb shoved the puck away from the goal, helping the Golden Knights secure Win No. 48.

“We’re a good team. We’ve won now 48 games?” 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.”