NHL: The defending champions, the Golden Knights, defeated the Kraken, 4-1, in their opener

This was a reunion in Las Vegas between fans and their heroes from the last Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday.

The Golden Knights players celebrated for the last time before the start of their season with the victory they achieved after winning the fifth game of the final over the Florida Panthers, and then concluded the evening by defeating the Seattle Kraken 4-1.

At the pregame ceremony, Knights captain Mark Stone brought the Stanley Cup to the ice. In typical Vegas touch, Stone threw the “slot machine” so that the end result was three Stanley Cups and at that moment, the champions’ flag was raised high in T-Mobile Arena.

The Knights continued the celebrations early in their game against the Seattle Kraken. Chandler Stephenson completed a great passing play with Stone and Brett Howden in the eighth minute of play to open the scoring.

Recent Conn-Smythe Cup winner, Jonathan Marchessault, has picked up where he left off. The forward blocked a shot by Kraken’s Brandon Tanev in the back of the Seattle goal to make it 2-0 Vegas.

Ivan Barbashev increased the lead with just 1:20 to play in the second half by threading a long pass from Brayden McNabb from his own box before rushing home with Vince Dunne on his heels to try to trouble him.

Jack Eichel completed the scoring into an empty net with 1:15 remaining in the game.

Jared McCann responded with the lost cause, being the only one to beat Aden Hill, who made 32 saves. Philipp Grubauer made 24 on the other side.

We also saw a questionable move in the third period when Brett Howden directed a blow to the head of Brandon Tanev, who did not return to the game after that. Howden received a 5-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

William Carrier also did not finish the game due to an upper body injury.