Joey Daccord gets second shutout of year with 35 saves as Kraken win Winter Classic 3-0 over Golden Knights

SEATTLE - Joey Daccord delivered the first ever shutout by a goaltender in the NHL's Winter Classic with 35 saves and the Seattle Kraken played one of their best games of the year in a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park.

Eeli Tolvanen, Will Borgen and Yanni Gourde each scored goals for Seattle as they set a new franchise record by earning points in nine straight games.

The victory is only Seattle's second win over their closest expansion rivals. In 10 total meetings, the Kraken are now 2-8 against the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Winter Classic victory is their first win over the Golden Knights to occur in Seattle with the only previous victory being a 4-2 win in Las Vegas last season. The win also moves Seattle above .500 for the first time this season at 15-14-9.

Daccord was terrific in net again for Seattle as his standout play for the team continued. Daccord delivered his first career shutout in a 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers last month. Over his last nine games, Daccord has a .953 save percentage and a 1.43 goals against average. His .919 save percentage for the season is now eighth in the NHL among all goaltenders to have played at least 300 minutes.

"Joey! Joey! Joey!" chants came raining down from the stands filled with 47,313 fans as Daccord made one of his best saves of the day to rob Jack Eichel with 2:12 remaining after the Golden Knights pulled the goalie for an extra attacker.

"Today was just a special day for everyone. … It was something that I’ll never forget and probably one of the coolest days my whole life," Daccord said.

The Kraken were ready for the moment and delivered a performance that was every bit as driven as many of their playoff games last spring. 

Seattle was aggressive with their forechecking efforts and created several offensive chances off constant pressure in the Vegas zone. It took less than five minutes for the Kraken to deliver the opening goal and take the early lead. In fact, it was the same guy that scored the first playoff goal in team history that delivered the first goal of the Winter Classic.

Tolvanen positioned himself perfectly in front of the Vegas net and managed to cleanly deflect a point shot from Vince Dunn past the right side of goaltender Logan Thompson for a 1-0 Kraken lead.

The line of Tolvanen, Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand was relentless in their efforts to dominate possession in the Golden Knights' end of the ice. On one possession alone, Bjorkstrand delivered a pair of shot chances, Tolvanen found Gourde in front of the goal crease only to be checked off of a scoring chance, and the puck cycled to Jamie Oleksiak at the top of the zone for a shot from the blue line that rebounded for another prime scoring chance.

"I think we've played really good hockey lately, and I think our main focus was today was getting a hot start and I think we did that really well and we just kept rolling," Tolvanen said.

Daccord had to make some key stops for Seattle when Vegas did get their looks on net. Daccord and Vince Dunn combined to breakup a 2-on-1 chance from Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault. Jack Eichel forced a turnover in the Seattle zone and ended up 1-on-1 with Daccord that was turned aside as well.

Borgen made it a 2-0 lead for Seattle just over two minutes into the second period. A Tolvanen shot from the top of the zone was deflected off Thompson in front of the net by Tye Kartye. The loose puck rebounded into the right circle and Borgen fired a slap shot that fluttered through the armpit of Thompson for a 2-0 lead.

The goal was Borgen's first of the season.

"It's pretty cool," Borgen said. "I don't score goals often so it's pretty fun to get one, especially at the outdoor game.

"We tried to make it business once we got out on the ice, but that's hard to do because we were having a lot of fun. It was just a good time. We were trying to enjoy every second of it, but it went by quick."

Vegas had their best chance to answer late in the second period as Mark Stone had a deflection chance right at the side of the net go off the bar and out to keep it a two-goal lead at the break.

The best line of the day for Seattle then delivered some extra insurance just 2:10 into the final period. Bjorkstrand cleared the puck out of Seattle's zone and Tolvanen back-handed a pass toward center ice looking for Gourde. The puck was intercepted by Paul Cotter at the Vegas blue line, but Gourde stole the puck off the Golden Knights center. While Gourde didn't get a clean shot off initially on Thompson, the Vegas goalie misplayed his clearance attempt and Gourde chipped the rebound over Thompson's pads for a 3-0 Seattle lead.

With the Kraken on a power play in the third period, the Golden Knights had another shot denied by the bar. A short-handed shot from Eichel also went off the post as Vegas was unable to crack Seattle's backstop.

"Honestly one of the greatest sporting events that I’ve been involved in or participated in for sure," head coach Dave Hakstol said.

"To have the opportunity to do this in this ballpark, in front of our home fans, get the result that everybody wanted makes it pretty special and that’s the best way to remember this event."

While it was the first shutout in a Winter Classic, Daccord's clean sheet was the fifth to come in an NHL outdoor game. 

Monday's game was the 39th outdoor game contested by the NHL. Craig Anderson (28 saves, 3-0 Ottawa win over Montreal), Cam Talbot (31 saves, 3-0 Edmonton win over Winnipeg), Jonas Hiller (36 saves, 3-0 Anaheim win over LA Kings), and Miikka Kiprusoff (39 saves, 4-0 Calgary win over Montreal) were the other shutouts. Anaheim-Los Angeles was a Stadium Series event, Ottawa-Montreal was the NHL 100 Classic, and the other two were Heritage Classic events.