Kraken look the part despite loss in opener

3 years ago  /  NHL.com  /  Read Time: 3 minutes 43 seconds

• LAS VEGAS -- The Seattle Kraken did not look like an expansion team in their first regular-season game despite losing 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
• They faced a lot of adversity, scrambling three players to Las Vegas on a private plane after they cleared COVID-19 protocol, walking into one of the most raucous venues in the NHL, and playing one of the best teams in the League -- the team with which they will be compared constantly because of its success as an expansion team since 2017-18.
• But they came back to tie the game 3-3 before Vegas got the winning goal off center Chandler Stephenson's skate at 8:33 of the third period.
• "I think it kind of speaks to our character as a team," center Morgan Geekie said.
• "Obviously, they're a big part of our team," Geekie said.
• "I think it's just a blessing we got them here in time for the game," forward Ryan Donato said.
• Prior to the game, fans in Kraken gear mixed with fans in Golden Knights gear in The Park and Toshiba Plaza outside T-Mobile Arena.
• Now, four years later, they were in the same arena with the same sign, but they were wearing Kraken jerseys and Buxton had replaced one word.
• The Golden Knights put on their usual theatrical pregame show and tailored it to the Kraken, new foes who had risen from the deep.
• Geekie said the Kraken were nervous, and that was part of the reason they fell behind 3-0.
• They did commit turnovers and feed the Golden Knights' transition game.

...

Read Full Article.