The Vegas Golden Knights waited until the last possible moment, but they finally sealed the Pacific Division title with a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday. The win gave the Knights 95 points on the season, enough to finish atop a division that many consider the weakest in the NHL this year.
With the division crown, Vegas earns home-ice advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Their first-round opponent will be the Utah Mammoth, setting up what promises to be an exciting series.
“All I know, since I’ve been here, they have played to a level and played it as a team consistently,” said head coach John Tortorella, who took over for Bruce Cassidy on March 29.
The Knights closed the regular season on a 7-0-1 run under Tortorella, entering the postseason on a 10-game point streak. Since the coaching change, Vegas has averaged 4.13 goals per game while allowing just 1.88 goals per game, best in the league over that span.
Goaltender Carter Hart has been a key factor, going 6-0 since returning from a lower-body injury and allowing only 10 goals in those starts. “He’s been a backbone ever since he came back,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “It’s obviously great to have confidence in him. It’s good to see him playing well.”
Wednesday’s game was not without its challenges. Seattle struck first and applied heavy forechecking pressure for much of the first two periods. Tortorella noted the Kraken were “quicker than us early on.” The Knights struggled to solve Seattle rookie goaltender Nikke Kokko until the third period, when they erupted for three goals.
“It’s a type of game that if you knew the result that you were going to win, you’d almost want to play one of those before playoffs,” Tortorella said. “You don’t like being in it when it’s going on, but give our guys credit. They stayed with it and just kept playing.”
The Knights have Thursday off before returning to practice Friday. Game 1 against Utah is expected Sunday. When asked for early thoughts on the Mammoth, Tortorella simply replied, “No.”
