nhl

Golden Knights defeat Kraken, take division lead

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Michael Amadio scored two goals and also had an assist and Reilly Smith had a goal and two assists to power the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

With the win, Vegas (50-22-9, 109 points) will take a two-point lead over the Edmonton Oilers (49-23-9, 107 points) for the Pacific Division title into their regular-season finales on Thursday. The Golden Knights finish at Seattle (46-27-8, 100 points) while the Oilers, who hold the regulation wins tiebreaker (44-37), host the seventh-place San Jose Sharks (22-42-16, 60 points).

It was the second two-goal game of Amadio’s career and the third three-point game of his career. Jonathan Marchessault scored his team-leading 28th goal and William Karlsson added a pair of assists for the Golden Knights, who improved to 6-1-0 all-time against the Kraken. Laurent Brossoit finished with 20 saves to win his fourth straight start and remain undefeated in regulation 6-0-3 this season.

Yanni Gourde scored for Seattle, which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Joey Daccord, recalled on an emergency basis Sunday from Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League due to an injury to starter Martin Jones, made 33 saves. Daccord had a 26-7-3 AHL record.

Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 5:37 mark of the first period when Amadio scored on a one-timer from the left side of the net off a crossing pass from Smith.

Seattle, playing the second game of a back-to-back that started with a 4-1 victory over Arizona on Monday in Tempe, Ariz., tied it midway through on Gourde’s 14th goal of the season on a wrist shot from the center of the right circle.

The Golden Knights regained the lead 2-1 two minutes into the second period when Smith zipped a backhand pass from the right circle to Amadio driving the net. Amadio then put a backhand shot past Daccord for his 16th goal and his first two-goal game since Feb. 17, 2018, against Buffalo while playing for the Los Angeles Kings.

Amadio almost had a hat trick near the end of the period when he broke free down the slot, but Daccord turned away his backhand try. However, Smith followed up and put the rebound in for his 25th goal.

Marchessault made it 4-1 with a five-on-three power-play goal at the 3:23 mark of the third period when he one-timed a sharp angle rebound from below the left circle of an Alex Pietrangelo point shot.

–Field Level Media

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