Are the Kraken the Scourge of the Pacific?

The expansion Seattle Kraken couldn’t measure up last season to what the Vegas Golden Knights accomplished in their first NHL campaign in 2017-18.

The Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season and the Kraken finished 30th out of 32 teams with a .366 winning percentage in 2021-22.

But this season is a different story.

The Kraken moved past the Golden Knights and into first place in the Pacific Division with a 4-3 overtime triumph against the New Jersey Devils Thursday. Andre Burakovsky scored at 1:10 into OT (watch the goal here) to give Seattle a .644 to .630 percentage points lead over the Golden Knights. Both teams boast 58 points, but the Kraken have played one fewer game.

Seattle and Vegas are headed in opposite directions. The Kraken have won nine of their last 11 games. The Golden Knights lost 3-2 to a struggling Detroit Red Wings team Thursday to give them four losses in their past five outings.

The Golden Knights are concerned because they have been overrun by injuries, including to top performers such as Mark Stone and Shea Theodore. In addition, Jack Eichel is -8 in his past five games.

Since starting the season with a 13-2 record, the Bruce Cassidy-coached Golden Knights are 15-14-2.

Meanwhile, the Kraken have climbed to the point that they are the NHL’s seventh-best team based on winning percentage.

“We’ve got these last couple of games before the All-Star break, so ending on the right note is definitely huge,” said Seattle’s Ryan Donato who had two goals in the OT win. “We’re playing against good teams and every point matters.”

The Kraken are 1-1 against the Golden Knights this season. But keep this mind: the two teams end the regular-season with a home-and-home series on April 11-13.

⭐️ NHL announced 12 players chosen in this year's All-Star Fan Vote. The All-Star Fan Vote determined the final three players (two skaters, one goalie) for each of the four divisions:

• Central Division: Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor Hellebuyck

• Pacific Division: Leon Draisaitl, Bo Horvat, and Stuart Skinner

• Atlantic Division: Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak, and Andrei Vasilevskiy

• Metropolitan Division: Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, and Ilya Sorokin

🔥 The Florida Panthers scored 5 goals in the second to defeat the Habs 6-2 last night. The game remained scoreless until 6:30 into the second when Sam Reinhart scored his 14th of the season and opened the floodgates. Before the period was over Matthew Tkachuk buried two goals with Sam Bennett and Givani Smith each chipping in one — all power play goals aside from Smith's. Goaltender Alex Lyon made 23 saves in his Panthers debut in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky who left the game in the first period due to a lower-body injury.

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• Simple 10 minute off-ice workout to improve your skating