Hill makes 24 saves, Golden Knights hold off Kraken

LAS VEGAS -- Adin Hill made 24 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights, who held off the Seattle Kraken for a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights (48-22-9), who have earned a point in four straight games (3-0-1) and sit atop the Pacific Division, six points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.

“We're a good team. We've won now 48 games?” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We're not all Picasso, so to speak, but when it's crunch time, I think our guys understand the value of getting the two points in the net. So, that was a situation where we needed it because there were times we weren't that clean tonight, which led to some trouble. But when the game's on the line, I believe our guys want to get it done or are willing to get it done and do get it done in many different ways. One of them is sacrificing the puck.”

The Golden Knights will have an opportunity to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

“We still have to fight for our first place,” Barbashev said. “We can't lose games, and I feel like we just got to be prepared for every single game now moving forward and just try to get better and be ready for our playoffs.”

Jared McCann scored, and Joey Daccord made 23 saves for the Kraken (34-40-6), who lost 7-1 at the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.

“It was a really good start to the game, had a bunch of good shifts from all lines and getting much better from our group,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “A bounce back from the whole team, but Joey, in particular, obviously gave us a bounce-back game tonight. He was really good and really solid, and it was an effort the team needed.”

Barbashev gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 6:58 of the first period. He fired a one-timer from the left circle into an open net after Brett Howden’s centering pass was deflected out to the trailing forward.

Karlsson made it 2-0 at 7:56 of the second period, taking a drop pass from Reilly Smith on the rush and scoring with a snap shot from the left circle past Daccord’s glove.

“Every game, you get a little bit more comfortable [playing together]. I'm not going to say that I'm not thinking out there sometimes, and I'd like to get to that spot,” Smith said. “But right now, it helps a lot playing with ‘Karl.’ It seems like every time I don't get the puck out, he's behind me, and he does the job. So just keep on working, keep trying to get better. We have a few more games and, hopefully, get our game to top shape when we get to playoffs.”

McCann cut it to 2-1 at 17:21 when he stuffed in a loose puck in the crease after Adam Larsson’s point shot was tipped by Jordan Eberle and came back off the post.

“We want to finish strong, not only for ourselves but for the fans as well,” Larsson said. “Now we have two home games to do that. So, it's definitely a big game for us.”

NOTES: Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague was a late scratch because of an illness despite taking warmups. … Tomas Hertl returned for the Golden Knights after missing the previous eight games with an upper-body injury. He was 8-for-18 on face-offs in 16:01 of ice time.