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Seattle Kraken goalie Joey Daccord shut down all 35 shots he faced en route to a, 3-0, win over the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park. It was the first shutout in the history of the Winter Classic.
This is the fourth time this season that the Golden Knights have been held scoreless in a game. The last time Vegas was shutout was Nov. 25 against the Arizona Coyotes.
“I thought we’d be better to be honest with you,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It got to 2-0 and we just didn’t have the urgency required early on. By the time we got to it, we were chasing the game which has happened to us lately. I was a little disappointed we weren’t better out of the gate but give [Seattle] credit, they’ve been playing well.”
It was the first appearance in the Winter Classic for both teams and it was only the second time in franchise history that the Golden Knights have had a game held outdoors. The first appearance outdoors for Vegas was back on February 20, 2021 versus the Colorado Avalanche.
The loss drops Vegas to 22-11-5 on the season with a total of 49 points while Seattle improves to 15-14-9 with 39 points. Vegas is still tied atop of the Pacific Division Standings with Vancouver and Seattle takes over sole possession of fourth in the division with Monday’s win.
Next up for the Golden Knights will be a Stanley Cup Finals rematch against the Florida Panthers on Thursday, Jan. 4 inside T-Mobile Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
Vegas faced a two-goal deficit heading into the third period and had seemed to be controlling the puck more in the offensive zone to generate more scoring chances in the early stages of the period. All of that came to a halt when center Yanni Gourde scored the game’s third goal to push it to a 3-0 game with just under 18 minutes to go in regulation.
“It’s really disappointing for our group,” right-winger Jonathan Marchessault said. “Right now we’re not playing our best hockey altogether. We’ve got to find a way to get more consistency.”
Monday’s loss marks the fifth loss in the last six games for the Golden Knights. In each of the five losses, the Golden Knights have failed to record a single point in the standings.
“At the end of the day you’ve got to find ways to win hockey games,” Marchessault said. “I think that’s the goal here. We also want not necessarily just to win hockey games but for a game to be there, our five-on-five, power play, penalty kill, everything to be clicking. Right now we’re just not clicking. Our best hockey is yet to come. We have to get back to basics and find a way to get our game going and the results are going to come.”
Left-winger William Carrier made his return to the Vegas lineup for the first time since Dec. 21 against Tampa. Carrier was out for an undisclosed reason and missed the last three games leading up to Monday.
Goaltender Logan Thompson got the nod in net for Vegas in this one. He finished the game with 24 saves on 27 shots faced for a final save percentage of .889.
“Once you get down in those types of games, it’s tough to come back,” captain Mark Stone said. “Once we went down two, we were trying to chase it in not our typical surroundings so it was tough to come back. Getting behind the eight-ball was not good for us this afternoon.”
The Kraken scored a goal in each of the three periods. Each goal came within the opening five minutes of the period.
“Some of the stuff we discussed before the game about Seattle and about their defensemen activating from the breakout and being the next layer up the ice was a big part of their first two goals,” Cassidy said. “That’s where we could’ve been better to prevent those things.”
Right-winger Eeli Tolvanen led the way in scoring for Seattle, scoring the game’s opening goal while also assisting on the Kraken’s second goal, scored by defenseman Will Borgen.