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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sluggish Kraken lose season opener to Stanley Cup champion Vegas

By Geoff Baker Seattle Times

LAS VEGAS — About a minute into the second period of Tuesday night’s mostly forgettable opener, a rusty Kraken defense and some misfiring forwards looked as if they could have used an extra preseason game or two.

Not that getting closer to the maximum eight preseason games instead of the six they played would automatically have ensured fewer fanned-on shots, puck giveaways or opponents getting behind the final defenders. But too often in this 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, the Kraken simply didn’t look ready to match the Stanley Cup champions with a level of consistency or execution required.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol had said after Tuesday’s morning skate that the game represented a good early test for his players “to go out and get it going.”

“It’s gonna be a hell of an atmosphere here,” Hakstol said. “There’s a lot going on with banner raising and opening night. So you know, we’ve just got to make sure that our energy and our focus is exactly where we want it to be right at the drop of the puck, whatever that might be.”

But it wasn’t to be on a night the Golden Knights celebrated last spring’s Cup win with a pregame banner raising ceremony that delayed puck drop until 8:14 p.m. Meanwhile, the Kraken kept things interesting for only about the opening seven minutes until Chandler Stephenson scored on the first Vegas shot on goal, getting in behind the defense in time to take a Brett Howden pass for an easy goalmouth tap-in behind Philipp Grubauer.

And it was off-to-the races from there for the defending champs.

Jonathan Marchessault doubled the lead later in the period when Brandon Tanev attempted to shoot the puck behind his own net only to have it strike the Vegas player’s stick and head on in. The Kraken barely got to intermission down only two goals, but then trailed by three just 80 seconds into the middle frame when Ivan Barbashev got in behind Vince Dunn and unleashed a slapper past Grubauer from close range.

Jared McCann finally got the Kraken on the board at the 8:19 mark of the period with a quick shot from the slot behind Adin Quinn off a Jordan Eberle feed. But then the Kraken power play, a struggle last season, went 0-for-4 on the night and failed to capitalize on an ensuing Vegas penalty and the visitors never managed to get any closer.

The final Kraken power play chance came in the final period when Howden was assessed a match penalty and five minute major for an illegal check to the head on Tanev. But Vegas again killed things off after thwarting an initial Kraken flurry and Jack Eichel closed things out with an empty-net goal in the final two minutes.

Tanev left the game and did not immediately return.

Vegas netminder Hill did his part to keep the Kraken from getting an early jump, making a quick kick stop of an Andre Burakovsky blast just seconds before the puck headed back up the ice for Stephenson’s opening goal. But in hindsight, this opening of a tough 10-game stretch for the Kraken, seven against playoff teams, might have turned out differently had they executed more often on some early cracks at Hill.

Dunn leaned into a pair of slap shots early on, one of them from dangerous territory in the high slot, but couldn’t get enough on either to hit the net.

For Dunn, it was his first game in more than two weeks after revealing Tuesday morning he’d arrived in training camp with an undisclosed condition that wasn’t healing right away. Dunn finally resumed skating on the side with coaches early last week and then undertook his first team workout ahead of last Friday’s preseason finale against Edmonton.

Dunn said he’s been treating “game-like situations” during team workouts the past few days the same way he would an actual game in an effort to ramp-up intensity-wise. He added that the Golden Knights’ home opener coming off a Stanley Cup championship makes for “an easy atmosphere” to get revved up for.

Last season’s team MVP had joked that hopefully he and pairing partner Adam Larsson know each other well enough by now to quickly pick up where they’d left off last season.

“I think we’re pretty familiar with each other,” Dunn said, smirking. “We sit on the flights together. We eat dinner together. Sit beside each other in the locker room. So, I definitely get enough of him and he gets enough of me.”

But much of the team as a whole looked to still be getting legs beneath them at times against a large-sized Vegas squad known for a heavy forecheck. Of consolation to the Kraken: They hung around against the Golden Knights after the early scoring flurry and thanks to some timely stops by Grubauer, who seemed to get stronger from early in the second period onward.