Pitching a shutout, with run support: Joey Daccord perfect in net as Kraken blank Golden Knights in 2024 Winter Classic
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In an absolute spectacle for any sports fan, the Seattle Kraken shut out the Las Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 3-0, as the two youngest franchises in the NHL battled in the 2024 Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park. With all the momentum coming into this game, and with the roof at the home ballpark of the Seattle Mariners wide open to show a chilly but clear sky, the Kraken forecheck and an outstanding effort by Joey Daccord in net helped defeat the reigning Stanley Cup champions. A team that had largely failed to put together complete efforts is now doing just that, and stacking them against each other, as the respective point and win streaks continue for the Kraken and the momentum of this Winter Classic could be a launching point for the rest of their season.
Ahead of the 2024 Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park, the Las Vegas Golden knights and Seattle Kraken came out on specially made docks leading to the rink, while Seattle native “Sir Mix-a-lot” performed his song “Jump on it.” The Kraken had the special introduction, as pyrotechnics went off alongside their dock and fish was thrown between each player. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Tolvy time to start this game, and the New Year (Again!)
This seasons Seattle Kraken team has proven to be nothing if not consistent, whether that’s consistent in terms of some of the types of mistakes that they’ve made or consistent in terms of the different streaks that they’ve put together, and that’s included the sort of strong first period starts to the game that have been present earlier in the campaign and now amidst the current point streak. While the Golden Knights got the first “attempt” of sorts on goal, it was the Kraken who struck first, much like they have during this point streak outside of the win over the Flyers the other day, as their strong forecheck put the pressure on Las Vegas early. With a simplified approach to their offensive attack, Yanni Gourde rimmed the puck around to Adam Larsson at the blue line, who would find Vince Dunn to his left. The teams leading scoring defenseman sent a shot up towards the next where teammate Eeli Tolvanen had been left all alone to the right-hand side of Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson, and a beautiful redirection sent the puck bouncing once in front of the crease and over Thompson’s right leg pad to open the scoring.
The Seattle Kraken celebrate their first period goal, as forward Eeli Tolvanen redirected a point shot from defenseman Vince Dunn, in the 2024 Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on January 1st, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Despite a few odd-man opportunities, that included a one-on-one spurred by Jack Eichel, Las Vegas wasn’t able to immediately respond to Seattle’s opening goal as Joey Daccord started the game off strong in net. On the other end of the ice, over by where third base normally is at T-Mobile Park, the Kraken were finding success driving to the net against the Golden Knights, a team that’s traditionally good at positioning and preventing opponents getting into their high danger area. Seattle was ensuring that they were going to get ahead of Vegas and put the pressure on them to push back, not the other way around as it’s been so often in these teams' matchups.
A Borgen bomb to keep pushing the scales in the favor of Seattle
After the first intermission saw the band “Heart” perform inside of the wrecked ship being taken down by tentacles of a Kraken out in centerfield, Seattle continued to take advantage of the slivers of space that Las Vegas was giving them to double their lead. Before the game could get three minutes into the second period, the Kraken had continued to push the pace against the Knights and got a juicy rebound off the left leg pad of Thompson. With nobody to the left-hand side of Las Vegas’ goaltender, the puck slid away aimlessly before Seattle defenseman Will Borgen came downhill and unleashed a high one-timer that had no chance of being stopped. Borgen’s goal, his first of the current season, tucked itself high and tight over the left shoulder of Thompson in a position where the Golden Knights goaltender had no chance to be able to get up in time to block that shot.
“I don’t score goals often. So, it’s pretty fun to get one, especially in an outdoor game.”
Seattle Kraken defenseman Will Borgen scored the second goal of the game, just his first of the year, early into the second period of the 2024 Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on January 1st, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Seattle continued their attacking momentum following the Borgen blast, as there were a few different opportunities close and on net for the Kraken that included Jamie Oleksiak’s drive and Jordan Eberle having a few whacks right in front of Thompson. The rest of this period was mostly in autopilot, as the Golden Knights were still trying to get through the Kraken and the neutral zone, to no avail. With that being said, Seattle’s shot barrage in this game was also what ended the second period off, as Jordan Eberle had a breakaway opportunity that he tried to shoot in the same pocket of the goal where Borgen had scored, but Thompson was able to get his left shoulder up just enough to deny Seattle of a third goal for the time being.
Gourde grinds out a third goal, and Daccord slams the door shut
While the Kraken had dominated the chances through the first 40 minutes of this game and looked like the better time in that period of time, Vegas was finally able to push forward and get some dangerous opportunities in the final 20 minutes. That did not come though, until after Seattle had slotted home their third goal of the game to put an exclamation point on the scoring. The Golden Knights had been trying to get the puck back into their defensive zone after a failed attempt on Joey Daccord in net for the Kraken, but forward Paul Cotter was a victim of Yanni Gourde’s relentless effort. Gourde, backchecking on the play, was able to hound Cotter enough so that he coughed the puck up, and the first “attempt” on net actually slipped off his stick but still forced Thompson to make a save as the puck slid towards him. It came off the right leg pad of the Las Vegas goaltender, and before he could cover it up or a teammate could clear it, Gourde was in perfect position to life it up and into the net to essentially call game in this Winter Classic.
Seattle Kraken forward Yanni Gourde celebrates his goal in the third period of the 2024 Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on January 1st, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
A moment for this franchise’s foundation and for the current season’s momentum
It needs to be stated now, especially considering everything that built into this event itself and then the big win for the team on top of it, that this Winter Classic is big for the Kraken as a franchise in the NHL. Not only has this week continued to show that Seattle is and always has been a hockey town, it’s given the league a clear and obvious statement that the city can handle its major events and should be able to do so in the future. The Kraken as a franchise continue to make their mark in the National Hockey League, whether that’s through the record merch sales and sneak wins in year one, the domination and playoff noise in year two, or the hype surrounding the Winter Classic here in year three. Those who continue to doubt the city's ability to handle everything that comes with having an NHL team only look worse as time passes, with the Kraken and their fan base earning respect more and more each year.
“It’s just a special day for everybody. For our team, for the city, for hockey, that was an incredible day, and I’m just so grateful to be a part of it. It’s really special, and it’s a huge win for our group. That’s a good team over there. It’s a big two points, and at the same time, it was something that I’ll never forget and probably one of the coolest days of my whole life.”
In terms of how this win helps their season, you’ve already seen that the respective point and win streaks have been furthered because of today's shutout victory over Vegas. The Kraken are playing the sort of relentless, strong, smart hockey that got them to the playoffs last season, but do not be mistaken; this is a different team than last year's Stanley Cup playoff shockers. Their identity is not that of a high scoring team, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be. With strong goaltending (That includes all three goaltenders that have played this year in terms of Philipp Grubauer, Chris Driedger, and Joey Daccord, in case you were about to get weird about one of them), better defensive structure as of late, special team's units that have had good stretches, and four lines of forwards that seem to be finding a bit of rhythm. Take that and remember that the team has forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Jaden Schwartz on injured reserve, and there’s plenty of reason to feel good about this Seattle team moving forward. After crashing through the waves of one-point losses and heartbreaking defeats due to one critical error, the Kraken have steered themselves back on course and are headway towards greater success as the calendar year of 2024 begins.
“Honestly, it was one of the greatest sporting events that I’ve been involved in or participated in. You can’t equate it to playoff hockey. But in terms of sporting events, I mean, it was pretty awesome — the feel and just the energy in the stadium throughout the hockey game.”
Following the shutout win, Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord was awarded the “Cocoa Cup” for the events MVP, as he joined the NHL on TNT table to speak postgame before being carted back to the home dugout, at the 2024 Winter Classic against the Las Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park on January 1st, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
Attendance at T-Mobile Park for today’s 2024 Winter Classic played between your Seattle Kraken and the Las Vegas Golden Knights was 47,313.
Joey Daccord became the first goalie in Winter Classic history and the fifth goalie in NHL history to record a shutout during an outdoor game.
The shutout was the second of his career, after recording his first on Dec. 12 against the Florida Panthers.
Daccord extended his point streak to nine games, setting a franchise record for the longest point streak by a goalie passing Martin Jones’ previous record from Jan. 1-14, 2023.
With the opening and eventually game-winning goal of the Winter Classic, Eeli Tolvanen registered his 100th career point. He's the 15th skater from the 2017 NHL Draft class to total 100 career points.
The goal was his tenth of the season, which trails only Jared McCann (14) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (11) for the team lead.
Today’s game is the first anniversary of Tolvanen’s Kraken debut in which he also scored the game-winning goal.
Today was Eeli Tolvanen’s third multi-point game of the season with the secondary assist on Will Borgen’s goal. It’s his first since Nov. 7 and Nov 22, 2023.
Will Borgen’s second-period goal was his first of the season.
He now has 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) this season, the second most of all Kraken blueliners behind Vince Dunn’s 30 points.
Yanni Gourde put the Kraken up 3-0 at 2:10 of the third period. Gourde (120-177—297 in 503 GP) is three points shy of 300 in his NHL career.
With the win, the Kraken have recorded points in nine consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.
According to NHL Stats, Seattle became the third franchise in League history with a shutout win in its outdoor game debut, following Anaheim in the 2014 Stadium Series at Dodger Stadium and Calgary in the 2011 Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium.
The Kraken became the second team in NHL history to defeat a reigning Stanley Cup champion in a regular-season outdoor game, following the Wild in the 2016 Stadium Series at TCF Bank Stadium, according to NHL Stats.
What’s next?
Following this historic victory for the Seattle Kraken over Pacific Division rival Las Vegas Golden Knights in the 2024 Winter Classic, they’ll have a day off and a day of practice before their next actual game. When the Kraken return to action, it’ll be on Thursday, December 4th when they host the Ottawa Senators at Climate Pledge Arena with a puck drop of 7PM PST. Seattle will be ready to rock the house, this game being broadcast on Root Sports Northwest within their market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on ESPN+/NHLPP nationwide, as they’ll play an Ottawa team that will play the Vancouver Canucks two nights before they head down to Seattle. The Senators, as of New Years Day, have won three of their past four but that comes following a six-game losing streak. Our Seattle Kraken will put their nine-game point streak and five-game winning streak on the line when they battle Ottawa that day, as the first 10,000 fans into the building will be receiving a Jaden Schwartz bobblehead!
