Vegas Golden Knights Skewer the Seattle Kraken in Season Opener

Sports

Tuesday, October 12, 2021: A lone man in a suit of golden armor stands on ice, having just defeated a giant CGI squid. He looks around dramatically and points to a large helmet being lowered from the ceiling. Suddenly, your eardrums are pounding, and you can’t hear properly. 18,431 people are on their feet, their cheers so loud it’s borderline dangerous. Music vibrates through your entire chest as more people come onto the ice.

Hockey in Vegas is back, and after a year of not having fans in the stands, the crowd was more than ready to show the Golden Knights just how much we missed them.

Opening night had the Knights pitted against the new team from Seattle, the Kraken, in their first regular-season game in franchise history. It was a big night; not only did VGK fans finally have to face the huge loss of Marc-Andre Fleury in the net, but it was expansion team versus expansion team. Who will come out on top? Will the Kraken have a Cinderella story like VGK did their first year? Or will they flop like so many expansion teams before them?

It turns out the Kraken were not a force to be reckoned with. VGK ultimately pulled victorious, but just barely, going from a 3-0 lead to tied 3-3 and then finally nabbing a fourth goal to take (and hold onto) the lead and get the win. The Kraken were without many of their heavy hitters for the game due to COVID protocols, but once they got their footing, the fight was on, and they gave VGK a run for their money.

Vegas took the lead early and quickly in the first period, moving fast and calculated. The second period saw the Kraken step up to match them, and it was at this point VGK stumbled a bit, failing to guard goaltender Robin Lehner properly and resulting in two goals. The third period was a nailbiter, with the Kraken scoring yet another goal to tie. Chandler Stephenson (#20) uses his skate to tip the puck into the Kraken net with 11 minutes left in the third period and take the lead, which Vegas holds onto for the rest of the game.

As a Vegas fan, the win going to our Knights on opening night at home is huge, and I’m extremely happy we managed to pull it off. However, the Kraken coming back from a 3-0 deficit is nothing to sneeze at, and if they keep up that momentum, it’s going to be a great year for them. On the flipside, Vegas losing their 3-0 lead the way they did is definitely concerning and will need to be addressed for future games. Hopefully, they can work out the kinks and be the team we know they can be.

It’s great to have hockey back, that’s for sure. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.

Go Knights Go!