Surging Golden Knights can capture Pacific with win vs. Kraken
The Vegas Golden Knights can clinch their third Pacific Division title in four years when they host the Seattle Kraken in their regular-season finale on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Vegas (38-26-17, 93 points) brings a season-best nine-game point streak (6-0-3) into the contest and has yet to lose in regulation (6-0-1) since John Tortorella took over for Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. Edmonton (40-30-11, 91 points) is in second in the division with one game remaining.
At the time of the coaching change, the Golden Knights were sputtering, just four points above the playoff line and having lost six of seven games and 12 of their previous 16. But the change to Tortorella, who coached Tampa Bay to the 2004 Stanley Cup title, seemed to revitalize the team.
"I don't think any of us would have expected to head into the last game of the year with a chance to win the division with the amount of points we had, but here we are," said center Jack Eichel, a key member of the U.S. gold-medal winning hockey team at the Winter Olympics in February. "It's been a season of ebbs and flows, but it seems like we've gotten things going in the right direction here.
"As you head into the playoffs, you want to be playing your best. It's a great opportunity to continue to build our game and prepare for the postseason and whatever that looks like."
Vegas comes in off a 6-2 home win over Winnipeg on Monday, its second straight victory. Eichel led the way with a goal and three assists, his fourth four-point game of the season, while captain Mark Stone added a goal and two assists. Stone has scored five goals in the last five games. Carter Hart made 21 saves to improve to 5-0-0 since returning from a lower-body injury.
"We've just got to stay about it. We've got to take each day at a time, keep building our game," Tortorella said. "We've got one more regular-season game and, hopefully, we're playing our best hockey as we're heading into the playoffs."
A win would guarantee that Vegas would have home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.
"You want to start here," Eichel said. "You want to start at home in front or our fans. It's the playoffs. To do that, we still have to go out there and win a hockey game."
Seattle (34-35-11, 79 points) was in the thick of Western Conference playoff hunt entering the month but has sputtered badly down the stretch, garnering just five points in nine games (2-6-1). The Kraken, who finish their season on Thursday at Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado, come in off a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
"I don't think we got to where we wanted to. Obviously, we're not in the playoffs," said center Matty Beniers, second on the team in both goals (20) and points (50) to Jordan Eberle (26, 55). "A little bit disappointing. I think we definitely had the ability to do it. We put ourselves in a spot to do it after the (Olympic) break but just didn't get it done. It's frustrating."
This is the fourth meeting between the two teams, with Seattle winning all three of the previous contests, including 4-3 in a shootout on April 9, the only blip by the Golden Knights under Tortorella.