Hill grabs first win in net for VGK

Newly acquired goaltender Adin Hill helped the Vegas Golden Knights grab their third straight win to open the season with a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken Saturday, Oct. 15 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.

Hill made 31 saves on 33 shots faced for a final save percentage of .939.

“I felt pretty good,” Hill said. “It’s nice when your team scores 12 seconds into the game. That settles the nerves a bit.”

The Vegas Golden Knights are off to their second-best start in franchise history at 3-0-0. The only start to a season that was better than this for VGK came in the 2020-21 season where the team started the season 4-0-0.

“It’s good for the guys to taste success early,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think everyone is chasing that early in the year. You don’t want to be behind.”

The Golden Knights currently hold the best record in the NHL at 3-0-0 equating to 6 points. They lead the Calgary Flames by 2 points in the Pacific Division Standings.

Vegas will have a chance to tie the best start in franchise history Tuesday, Oct. 18 when they head north of the border to play the Calgary Flames in the finale of this two-game road trip. Puck drop is set for 6PM PST and can be seen on AT&T Sportsnet in Las Vegas and on ESPN+ nationwide.

“This is a good start for us right now,” right-wing Keegan Kolesar said. “We still think we can play a lot better.”

Along with having a solid start in net, Hill also received plenty of help from the VGK offense which was clicking on all cylinders early and often.

Kolesar grabbed the game’s first goal just 12 seconds into the contest to give Vegas an early 1-0 lead.

Other Knights that scored include center Jonathan Marchessault who scored a pair of goals in the game as well as right-wing Reilly Smith and defenseman Shea Theodore.

By the end of the second period, Vegas scored all five of their goals and held a 5-0 lead over Seattle heading into the final 20 minutes of play.

Former San Jose Shark and Philadelphia Flyer Martin Jones allowed all five goals for Seattle making 19 saves on 24 shots faced for a final save percentage of .792.

Jones was subbed out for Philipp Grubauer between the second and third periods. Grubauer saved all six shots he faced in the third.