The Kraken snuff the Golden Knights

McCann's overtime wrister leaves Vegas in the dark

Old ghosts in Seattle

Last season's table said this one belonged to the Vegas Golden Knights. They finished 3rd of 32. The Seattle Kraken finished 27th. But the Gauntlet keeps its own memory. In the 2023-24 quarterfinals, the Kraken shut out the Golden Knights 3-0, the year Seattle shared the Gauntlet. On qualification night at Climate Pledge Arena, nobody got a second chance: lose once and your candle came off the shelf.

Power plays trade blows

The second period got busy and mean. Brayden McNabb went off for interference at 7:17, and Matty Beniers made Vegas pay at 7:58 with a power-play backhand, set up by Jordan Eberle and Vince Dunn. At 11:32, Brandon Montour and Ben Hutton dropped the gloves and took five minutes each.

Vegas got its answer on the power play too. Ryan Winterton tripped at 3:26 of the third, and Pavel Dorofeyev ripped a slap shot at 4:11, with Mark Stone and Jack Eichel assisting. That one came 16:13 after Beniers had scored.

McCann finds the fire

Joey Daccord held up his end, turning aside 26 of 27. Adin Hill stopped 20 of 22 at the other end. Then, 4:56 into overtime, Jared McCann beat Hill with a wrist shot off feeds from Beniers and Dunn. The Golden Knights, semifinalists a season ago, went cold. Seattle burned on, one of 16 flames still lit.