The Kraken’s 6-2 loss to the Golden Knights had a few punches thrown in it, and for Seattle fans, that was about as lively as the night got.
The third period brought the main sparks. First came Mark Stone of Vegas and Brandon Montour of Seattle, then later Ryan Winterton of the Kraken and Marc Gatcomb of the Golden Knights got into it as well. The game had already been chippy before those tilts, and the scrums kept piling up as the night wore on.
Montour said afterward that his goal was to get under Stone’s skin. He explained that he was taunting Stone for not immediately stepping in when teammate Victor Olofsson was hit from behind by Kraken forward Ben Meyers at 8:03 of the third period.
Meyers was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct on the play.
There was a different read from some people in the Golden Knights’ press-box area, where staffers believed Montour was actually goading Olofsson over what they saw as a fake injury. Others in the press box wondered if the edge between the two sides traced back to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, which Stone’s Golden Knights won over Montour’s Florida Panthers in five games.
The Winterton-Gatcomb fight had a more direct setup. Gatcomb had delivered an illegal hit that knocked Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren out of the game just 15 seconds into the contest. Lindgren was able to finish the rest of the first period, but that was the end of his night.
Seattle coach Lane Lambert had no postgame update on Lindgren.
The game featured plenty of other melees and scrums too, and with three more head-to-head Pacific Division matchups still to come between these teams, there’s clearly more bad blood where that came from.
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Kraken Fans Will Be Arguing About This Vegas Loss All Night
Victor Olofsson did plenty of damage against Seattle on a night when the Kraken never quite found their footing, scoring twice in Vegas 6-2 win. The Kraken had chances early on the power play, but they spent too much of the game chasing a mix of penalties and bad puck luck that kept swinging momentum back toward the Golden Knights.
The frustration boiled over as the game got choppier, and Seattles bench had plenty to sort through afterward. Ben Meyers was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct, while the physical edge escalated even further in a contest that already felt like it was slipping away from the Kraken long before the final horn. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Exposed At Home By A Problem Fans Already Feared
The Krakens night at Climate Pledge Arena unraveled early and never really settled into anything resembling home-ice control, as Vegas rolled to a 6-2 win behind huge performances from Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel. Seattle got goals from Shane Wright and Jared McCann, but the Golden Knights were cleaner, faster and far more dangerous in the moments that decided the game, with Victor Olofsson adding two goals before leaving the ice after a hard collision.
For Seattle, the more worrying part was how quickly the game got away in front of a crowd that had already been bracing for defensive trouble. Joey Daccord was chased in the third period after giving up five goals on 21 shots, with Philipp Grubauer taking over late, and the Kraken never found a way to steady things long enough to make the finish interesting. Meanwhile, the sequence that knocked Olofsson out of the game added another layer of agitation to a matchup that had already tilted sharply in Vegas favor. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Suddenly Face A Blue Line Concern After Physical Loss
A physical night in Vegas ended with the Kraken dealing with an early scare on the blue line, as Ryan Lindgren exited after taking a hard hit and never returned. Seattle has leaned on its defense to stay organized in tight games, so any injury on the back end immediately raises questions about how the group will hold up if a regular is forced out for any length of time.
Lindgrens departure came in a game already marked by a couple of injury situations elsewhere around the league, underscoring how quickly a heavy matchup can change a teams outlook. For Seattle, the immediate concern is less about the final score than whether Lindgren will be available moving forward, and the team now has to wait for more clarity before knowing how much this one affects its rotation on defense. [Read more 🡒]