Vegas Golden Knights vs. Seattle Kraken Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/1/2022

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA

Where to watch: ROOT-NW, ATTSN-RM, SNP, SNO, SNE

DraftKings: Golden Knights -130, Kraken +110

BetMGM: Golden Knights -125, Kraken +105

Caesars: Golden Knights -135, Kraken +115

Golden Knights: 37-28-4

Kraken: 21-40-6

The Vegas Golden Knights will not go quietly into the, well, uh, night. Despite all the injuries they’ve dealt with this season, Vegas finds itself entrenched in a playoff race that is getting extremely crowded in the Western Conference to this point.

 

With the Golden Knights getting Robin Lehner back in net, for the very least, they’re getting healthy at the right time with Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb back in the fold. And with this rematch coming up Friday against the Seattle Kraken, Vegas’ schedule is very favorable in the hopes of making the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

 

The league’s two newest teams will meet for the second part of a doubleheader in Seattle in which the Golden Knights can sweep it with a victory. Vegas is coming off a 3-0 victory Wednesday that saw rookie goalie Logan Thompson record his first NHL shutout with a 23-save performance.

 

"They came out with a little more fire, and Logan made some big saves in the first period, and that allowed us to recognize that this was going to be a hard one,” Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said “It starts with getting some veteran defensemen back, like (Brayden) McNabb and (Alec) Martinez, and all of a sudden, it’s harder to get to our net. Then Logan has come in and has done better every night out, and I thought the guys around him played great.”

 

Thompson has been a godsend for the Golden Knights when they’ve been desperately needing a steady hand in net with Lehner’s injuries/inconsistencies, as well as the recent sidelining of Laurent Brossoit (which, really, he’s just sitting as the third goalie with no help in sight).

 

Thompson is 5-2-0 in his last seven starts and has been very good as advertised. The AHL’s reigning goalie of the year has shown that the time is now for him to be at the NHL level. Whether or not he’s ready to be the guy full-time in Vegas going forward is another discussion entirely that’s not meant for my head to deal with.

 

“It’s getting better every day. I feel really confident in the net, and it’s something I want to keep building off of,” said Thompson. “The guys did a really good job today (in front of me), and that made it easy. It’s really exciting. We’re in must-win games, and I’m really thankful for the opportunity. I’m just soaking it all in.”

 

The Golden Knights’ defense was great in the final 40 minutes after a shaky opening 20, but as DeBoer mentioned, getting Martinez and McNabb back to fortify the blue line and provide veteran leadership in front of the young goalie. But with Lehner soon on the mend of returning, I’d expect Lehner to return to the crease for this matchup.

 

The Kraken were shut out for the third time on home ice this season, which is what an expansion team should’ve looked like. But Vegas bought their way to a Stanley Cup Final run in Year 1, right? Good lord.

 

“We didn’t generate very much, especially in the second half of the game,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “The second period was the difference in this hockey game. The second period against a good team, we didn’t take care of the puck, and turnovers led to transition offense for them. It also led to a lot of O-zone time for some of their good players. They got inside of us in the second period, the beat us back to the net and got scoring opportunities off of that.”

Normally, playing a back-to-back against the same opponent would not bode well for the team that won the previous matchup. But I think we can make an exception because the Kraken are just not good right now. The Golden Knights understand the need to play good hockey down the stretch, and I expect that to continue for this favorable schedule. Only biding time until Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty get back, right? Golden Knights win 4-1

The Golden Knights are 6-12 following a division game this season.

The Golden Knights are 7-13 after shutting out its opponent in the previous game over the past three seasons.

The Kraken are 0-6 following consecutive division games this season.

The Kraken are 1-7 this season after playing a game where three total goals or fewer were scored.

Golden Knights:

Evgenii Dadonov -- Jack Eichel -- Chandler Stephenson

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Michael Amadio

Mattias Janmark -- Nicolas Roy -- Jake Leschyshyn

Pavel Dorofeyev -- Jonas Rondbjerg

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Ben Hutton -- Alex Pietrangelo

Alec Martinez -- Zach Whitecloud

Robin Lehner

Kraken:

Ryan Donato -- Alex Wennberg -- Jordan Eberle

Jared McCann -- Morgan Geekie -- Kole Lind

Victor Rask -- Yanni Gourde -- Karson Kuhlman

Daniel Sprong -- Riley Sheahan -- Joonas Donskoi

Adam Larsson -- Vince Dunn

Will Borgen -- Derrick Pouliot

Carson Soucy -- Jamie Oleksiak

Philipp Grubauer

Points: Jonathan Marchessault -- 55

Goals: Jonathan Marchessault -- 26

Assists: Chandler Stephenson -- 34

Goalie: Robin Lehner -- 21-15-1, 2.77 GAA, .909 SV%

Points: Yanni Gourde -- 39

Goals: Jared McCann -- 24

Assists: Yanni Gourde -- 23

Goalie: Philipp Grubauer -- 15-27-5, 3.19 GAA, .889 SV%